Experts: Mortgage Rates Plunge, Get Yours Now
ATLANTA — With home mortgage rates in Georgia now down as low as 4.5 percent for a 30-year fixed loan, for Michelle and Mike Herring that means a saving of $200 a month on a tight budget. Their interest rate will go from 5 7/8 percent, which they got just three years ago, to 4 ½ percent today.
“We’ve balanced our budget and we end up with the same amount going in as going out and we break even every month,” Herring said. “You start to analyze this bill and that bill, cut costs here and there. You can set the thermostat lower and it’s not making a big difference.”
But cutting mortgage interest is making a big impact.
“You can’t argue with 4.5 percent but my parents had 13.5 percent and that’s crazy compared to what we can come up with now,” Herring added.
“I just think it’s a great windfall for our family. It’s a great time for us to enjoy some stress free living for awhile,” Michelle said.
For J.D. Crowe, the outgoing president of the Georgia Mortgage Brokers Association, the rates are lowest he has seen in his ten years of practice. He urges homeowners not to sit on the sidelines.
“Get the process started. Do the application. Get the appraisal so we are sitting on go and we can pull the trigger when rates get to where you want them to be,” Crowe said.
As an example, homeowners who now have a $200,000 mortgage at 6 percent can bring it down to 4.875 percent with no points, and save more than $140 a month. If a homeowner has a 3.5 percent down payment or perhaps more, as part of an FHA Loan, financing and refinancing can be pursued at highly competitive rates.
In Metro Atlanta, FHA backed mortgages can reach as high as $320,000 and throughout the rest of Georgia, up to $271,000.
Whether homeowners or potential homeowners go with conventional or FHA backed loans, the bottom line is now is the time to start the process.
