Thinking about refinancing your existing home mortgage or moving and getting into another mortgage? Now is the time to do it!
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Why interest rates are dropping
The turmoil in Washington, D.C. — the uncertainty this week around the testimony of former FBI director James Comey, the general political gridlock hampering the legislative process and all the rest of it — has created an odd opportunity in the form of low interest rates.
Usually when you have the economy growing and unemployment rates at the lowest they’ve been in about a generation, you’d expect interest rates to go higher. That’s what was expected to happen and what did in fact happen at the start of 2017.
But the marketplace is sensitive to instability and that’s led the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to collapse to the lowest it’s been all year.
So what does all this have to do with you and your real estate financing?
Simple — a lot of other interest rates are based on the 10-year Treasury yield. The most direct effect is on mortgage rates. We’ve seen rates take a deep dive in just the last few days to just about the lowest they’ve been this year.
If you have a credit score of 740 to 760 or above, you can find a 15-year refinance starting the twos right now. Thirty-year mortgage rates are in the threes. Both are the kinds of rates that most people didn’t expect to see again!
Listen: Clark talks about this unexpected opportunity on The Clark Howard Show Podcast
This also creates an opportunity for those who have a great interest rate on their current home to up and move if they so wish. Because now they can duplicate that great rate when they get into their next home.
So that’s another upside to the political downside!
Keep in mind, these great rates are for people with higher credit scores. For people with lower credit scores, the rates you’ll be offered will be lower as well vs. just a few days ago and certainly vs. earlier this year. They just won’t be as low as the rates for those with great credit.
