With mortgage interest rates being in the low 4′s for a 30 year rate, more people are considering refinancing.  A larger than expected number of those folks are asking for 15 year mortgage. This week, the rates offered by lenders on 15-year fixed-rate loans averaged 3.82 percent, Freddie Mac reported.

Why is that?  Well the customers we talk to tell us that they are not getting much of a return on their other investments… and they don’t see Social Security payments as a way to make their mortgage payments!

Baby boomers nearing retirement, who may recall 13 and 14 percent mortgage rates when inflation peaked in the early 1980s, are especially drawn to the 15-year loans!

According to Freddie Mac, 22 percent of homeowners who refinanced their mortgages in the second quarter lowered their principal balance by paying cash at the closing. That was up from 19 percent in the first quarter, and was the third-highest “cash-in” level since Freddie Mac began tracking it in 1985.  Many of those types of statistics are coming from areas where people have Equity Lines and with the Equity Line, they don’t qualify to refinance.

Fortunately for those of us in the Raleigh / Cary market, we don’t really have the home appraisal problems many of our friends in the rest of the country have! Raleigh/Cary was recently named the top area to experience APPRECIATING values in the next year.

If you are considering a Refinance of your mortgage loan, please call Steve and Eleanor Thorne, 919-649-5058 Professional Mortgage Planners in North Carolina.  We offer the best mortgage rates and the lowest fees available.