Saturday, July 4, 2009

Mortgage Rates in Texas More Attractive for Jumbo Refinancing

As many high-end Texas homeowners have found out recently, financing a new luxury home purchase or refinancing to a lower mortgage rate is not as easy as showing you make alot of money. Tightened credit standards, fewer lenders and higher rates have all conspired to create some class warfare among the refinancing public.

Rates on jumbo mortgages in Texas, those above the federal agency conforming maximum of $417,000, have historically been higher in order to compensate for limited liquidity. Agency loans can readily be sold to other lenders, packaged for investors, or sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The market is far more limited for jumbo loans, and many originating lenders keep these loans for their own portfolio. The rate differential between 30-year fixed conforming and non-conforming jumbo loans reached a high in December of 1.96%, partially due to a number of lenders pulling out of the market amid the credit crunch. Recently, this spread has dropped significantly to 1.31% according to data compiled by BanxQuote. The average 30-year fixed rate jumbo mortgage loan stands at 6.18% nationally, but lower rates can be found by working with lenders who specialize in these products. Contrast this with rates in the 5% range available for conforming loans and you can see the dilemma.

Nevertheless, refinancing makes sense for many homeowners who were relegated to accepting adjustable rate loans over the past year when fixed rate financing became scarce. Even a modest rate reduction can make economic sense to a homeowner concerned about the risk of rising rates over the long-term. Furthermore, rates at or below 6% still represent a historic low, and just 1/8th of a percent on a $1 million mortgage amounts to thousands of dollars in interest savings over the life of a loan.

Some pitfalls borrowers should be aware of include the absensce of so-called "stated income" loans that many self-employed borrowers favored over the past several years. Borrowers who cannot substantiate sufficient income to cover their mortgage debt as well as other outstanding payments will be hard pressed to qualify. In addition, lenders are also seeking increased documentation of assets and requiring greater liquid reserves, some as much as 12 months. Lastly, expect your lender to look critically at your appraisal. In many parts of the country where housing prices are falling precipitously, two, and even three appraisals are being mandated. While the Texas housing market has largely avoided the crisis levels of Nevada, Michigan, and Florida, recent data indicate the high-end home markets locally are indeed being affected by the housing downturn. According to Crawford Realty Advisors, annual sales of homes valued at $500,000 or more in the Houston area dropped for the first time this decade. Lastly, financing a "cash-out" transaction can prove particualrly difficult as Texas has some unique laws limiting the amouny of cash a borrower can take out of their home when refinancing.

TX Refinance

If the idea of paying your high housing loan interests causes you to feel nauseous, then go for refinancing and dump all your worries and stresses. And the veritably cheap refinance rates available in the market today makes loan finance a smaller devil to take on than common. What's Refinancing? Securing a loan to pay off your prior loan against the same assets, property etc is regarded as refinancing.

There are no-cost as well as cheap refinance TX loans. When to Refinance? IRs alter, when the Central Reserve enters a rate cutting period.

Refinance when you find the present market rates are low. Refinancing is advantageous whether the rate decline is only one p.c. Point, that is, even if you have contracted a flat rate home loan at nine percent, you may find advantages in refinancing the rate to eight percent. Advantages of low refinance rates - Decreases Interest Cost Low refinance rates decreases interest costs so helping save more cash at the end of month that would. Low refinance rates helps save cash which can be employed to pay down the principal of the loan, thus further reducing payments. Your credit score will make a giant difference in refinance rate offered to you.

Paying points are also another technique to get low refinance rate.

So, refinance your home loan, pay low IR and invest the savings thus for exigencies. But do not get carried away with low refinance rate alone. Remember there is a thing called closing costs and redemption penalty.

Texas Refinancing

Debt reduction refi loans lower your arrears earlier by lowering the IR on your principal. Cashing Out Equity Can Save You Money By securing your debt consolidation loan with your place's equity, you qualify for some of the least costly financing open to you. So you can trade in your double digit card rates for single digit mortgage rates. To get the maximum out of your cash out refi, decide if you want one or two mortgages. By refinancing your original mortgage, you qualify for lower overall rates. Ideally, you want a short term loan to get out of debt earlier.

This does not basically mean larger payments though . With lower rates, you can select a loan years shorter with the same regular payment. Variable rate home loans also offer low payments, but there's the chance that your rates could increase. Banks Make The Difference Not all lendering firms are made the same. Each financing company has their own formula for deciding loan rates and closing costs.

In less than two weeks, your loan's bureaucracy can be finished, and you can pay off your other bills.

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