Selling Price is Not the Whole Story

With this week's low interest rates, the opportunity to buy is better than ever. Did you know a half-point drop in your interest rate makes a huge difference on your monthly payment? Let's say you are taking out a $300,000 mortgage, and you have been expecting to pay 6%. What if the loan market changed, and/or you decided to pay an additional 0.5% to 1% towards buying down the rate (or you negotiated with the seller to do that for you!), and now you're able to get that same loan at 5.5% (an historically low rate). Your monthly principal and interest just lowered from $1798.65 to $1703.37.
What if you had that same $300,000 mortgage with a 6% interest rate and suddenly other economic factors in the market caused a jump up in rates, and in order to close on time, you're now going to pay 6.25%--you're payment is now $1847.15.
It really pays to not wait, whether it's making an offer, finding the right loan, getting that loan locked at the right time.
If you're thinking about waiting 6 months because you think home prices will be coming down further, just remember that even if that's true to a certain degree, the selling price of the home isn't the only thing that will impact your monthly payment.

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