What can I expect to pay for a home loan this fall?
Q: What can I expect to pay for a home loan this fall?
A: Most types of home loans cost about a quarter-point less than they did last October.
The average cost of a conventional 30-year fixed-rate home loan — the most popular way to finance a home — costs nearly a quarter of a point less than this time last year.
The average cost of a 30-year jumbo mortgage plunged to a new record low last week and is now below that of conventional fixed-rate mortgages.
Jumbo loans are mortgages that are too large to be purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-owned companies that buy or guarantee most of the mortgages issued by banks and other lenders.
The largest loans they can buy depend on where the home is located but range from $417,000 in most places to $625,000 in the nation’s most expensive cities.
All of this is kind of surprising because the Federal Reserve ended a two-year campaign to drive down long-term interest rates last fall — a move that was widely expected to push mortgage rates higher.
But weak demand for home loans trumped that policy change and held rates down.
Here’s the current average cost of four major types of home loans according to our most recent weekly survey of major lenders:
• 4 percent for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.
• 3.18 percent for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages.
• 3.19 percent for five-year adjustable rate mortgages.
• 3.89 percent for 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgages
And that’s just looking at the average cost of financing a home.
Devoting a little time to finding the best possible mortgage can save tens of thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan.
Savvy borrowers with decent credit can almost always pay a quarter to half point less than that.
Yet a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says nearly half of Americans seriously consider only one lender or broker before applying for a mortgage.
And about 75 percent fill out an application with only one lender.
Q: What kind of credit scores do I need to qualify for a home loan these days?
A: Homebuyers with conventional loans had an average FICO credit score of 756 in August, according to Ellie Mae Inc., a California-based mortgage technology firm whose software is used by many lenders.
The average FICO score for homeowners who refinanced through a conventional loan was just 727.
FHA loans clearly helped borrowers with too much debt and lower credit scores.
The average FICO score for homebuyers was just 689 in August while borrowers out to refinance had an average score of just 660.
