The quest is on! You’re in
market for a new home loan, a refinance, or a consolidation and you absolutely insist on finding lowest rate possible! So what better place to do your research, then here on internet, late at night, with your coffee in hand, and your family fast to sleep!We’d like to help you on your quest, so here are 3 free tips that we think will speed up your journey, and move you to success:
1.Benchmarks 2.Comparisons 3.Apples and Oranges
1.Benchmarks:
You have to start somewhere. Define “low”? Let’s not lick our index fingers, and poke them in wind to see what direction storm is heading. If you want lowest rate possible, you need to know what market is doing right now, where it’s been historically, and what it might be doing over short term long-haul (say over next 3 to 6 months.)
a)Fortunately for you, there are TONS of resources available on internet to do easy market research. Our website provides a Rate-Watch, for example, updated throughout day, complete with graphs, charts, and specs on fixed rates, ARMS, Jumbo’s, and everything in between. But we aren’t only site out there that provides free resources. Just go to your favorite search engine, and you’ll find a gazillion sites that would love to give you free market information.
b)What I suggest you do is primarily focus on 30 year fixed rate, and find a graph demonstrating TREND over last 6 to 12 months. A picture is worth a thousand words. Also, check out current fixed rate, and maybe even poke your eye at APR for an adjustable rate mortgage, and perhaps check out two or three different resources online. Most of them should be extremely similar. This will encourage your confidence in your own growing knowledge about what’s going on out there.
c)What’s news got to say about it? Our site provides a free Financial News watch for mortgages, auto loans, and breaking business stories, updated throughout day. It’s no secret, of course, that news is abundant on internet, and we aren’t only free resource to provide this information. Go wherever you desire, but read an article or two, even if it’s just first few paragraphs. What’s going on with rates? What are Feds doing? Any pundits out there talking about how things look, and what may be happening with interest rates? I swear, if you spend 5 minutes doing this, you’ll be as informed as best of them, in terms of having a gestalt view on rates. You will know, with a high level of certainty, what “low” means, in current world of mortgages and loans.
So take 20 minutes, and derive some benchmarks for yourself. Then, and only then, will you be in a position to gauge what lowest possible rate truly is, and fully prepared to move forward with your important shopping trip.
2.Comparisons:
Every loan is different. Every lender is unique. Every borrower has his/her own, special, unique set of circumstances. In addition, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of lenders. The information is out there, but what you need is to focus on efficiency.
a)So best way to sift through deluge of thousands of lenders, with rates changing daily, and terms that may or may not be posted for all to see, is to use one of many online services that provide this technology to you (for free.)
b)I won’t go into naming my favorites, or listing recommendations, or pointing out ones that are oldest, or newest, or fastest. That’s not point of this article, and I believe in your ability to make good choices. What I will say, is that I believe in these services.
c)By providing very simple, brief, and concise information on a short form application, you will almost instantly be provided with 3 to 4 loan offers that match your needs and circumstances, from thousands of lenders, rates, and offers that are collated and organized in databases of these various loan search providers. I give that an A for efficiency, allowing you to spend your hard-earned time and resources on other more productive things.
