Fees....with certain mortgages, especially when the rates seem attractive, you will get charged points, mortgage fees ( which goes to mort. broker, your brother:-)and then all of the usual fees that you get hit with....legal, document preparation by lender, title inspection, title insurance, property transfer fees, courier fees, document fees by lawyer, etc..
The last list is normal. The big ones are the "points and mortgage fees".
When I was looking a few months ago the best that I found was 6.75, fixed, 30 yrs. with no points or broker fees. And that is with 800 credit and net assets into 7 figures.
I had gone on line and contacted all the great low rates that were advertised. I found that many had fees from a low of $4,000 to a high of $12,000. Some had the fees hidden where you would actually be taking out a larger loan than you asked for and financing the fees.
Is the 5.65 you're talking about for 30 years fixed?

Yes, the 5.65 is for a 30yr fixed; however, the broker (my brother) is making NO money from this deal. We are actually paying .25 to the lender. We could have done no points, but we felt $525 wasn't a whole lot to pay for a better rate. We will make that up in no time.

I'm sure you know that as broker, the banks pay the broker a fee for bringing in the mortgage. It's their yield spread premium (I believe it's called that). So, if you meet with a broker and he says "no points", it's usually because the lender he is choosing is paying him/her 1-2 points to submit the loan to them. They may try and charge you a point anyway (greedy). Does that make sense? So, you will see ALOT of "no points" or "no fees" etc. but you can be sure whatever they eliminate, they will make up one way or the other.

Of course, I don't begrudge anyone from making a living; however some of these guys are snakes, esp. if you don't realize the bank is already paying them to bring the loan to them. People with bad credit are desperate alot of times, so they go with whomever they can get to approve the loan.

The interest rate is MUCH better than what you've been quoted. Remember, it changes daily, sometimes more than 1x daily (therefore usually by the time you see it in print, it's "old".) Like I said, the stock market fiasco of the other day really helped for a day or 2, but now it's back to right around 6% or so. If you have an 800 credit score, you really should be getting a GREAT rate with that, better than 6% I would believe. I believe several banks have programs with GREAT interest rates for that.

I think I saw a loan officer posting on here, so maybe he/she can help you more??

Wow, give my your brother's name if he can get 5.65 I'd look at refinancing. Something doesn't sound right in that equation. I know the brokers fee is only about $500 on a typical loan so that doesn't account for such a low rate. And I realize that the rates change daily, but a one day change of 0.25% is a big change. The rates you are talking about are the rates of 1 1/2 years ago. If he can really pull it off with a fixed rate and no points, then he has some contacts that I haven't heard of. He isn't talking about an interest only loan, is he?

Closed yesterday.

FL condo: PHMC (Preferred Home Mortgage Company) 1st year 3.5%, 2nd year 4.5% and years 3 through 30 at 5.5%.

Yes, they are still giving low mortgages. Of course, builder bought down the mortgage to get us to buy....:-)

I think interest rates also varies by what state you're in. I don't fully understand why. Can somebody explain that one? I can go to one of the big advertised lenders and put in a different state and I get a different rate for the same loan amount.

These interest rates being tossed around are outstanding. I couldn't get anything close to those figures two years ago when rates were generally lower, even with 50% down and credit scores in the high 700's for me and DW.

About 95% of residential loans are sold to the two major lenders..Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I can tell you that that would not buy a loan in today's market at 5.something %. So, if anyone is getting loans for under 6.5 they are either being held privately or it's "funny money" :-) I sat on the Board of a small local bank and we sold all of our residential fixed loans to the two FM's. Three years ago they would buy a 5.50% loan, but they won't do it today. Why would they buy a loan at 5.5% when they can purchase millions of other loans at 6.5%+ ?
As far as buy downs...who knows what's going on. Rather than reducing the price of a building $30,000 the builder can do a buy down. You would probably get the same end result by paying a higher interest rate and getting a discount on the house. In fact you might be farther ahead with the discount. If the market changed and you wanted to sell in 5 years you could make a nice profit.

You really don't follow the FL market, do you.

I hate to say you don't have a clue, but you don't have a clue.

Just, FYI. This was a HUD loan. You can also check out Engle Homes and see what mortgage companies and insurance companies they own or are owned by. You will then see how and why they are able to offer certain "incentives".

There are so many "deals", not "funny money"....makes me laugh......around in FL, you just have to be at the right place at the right time. It's happening every day.

Hey Cool,

Sorry the delay, I'm travelling this weekend.

My brother is only does deals in DC, Maryland & Virginia. However, I would HIGHLY suggest you call around or even look on the internet. If you have the 800 credit score you said previously, you should have no problems getting a rate below 6%. There is no "funny money" involved, I'm not really sure what you mean by that. A 5 second Google will put you more in line with what interest rates are.

Let me know what happens.

Closed in December with a 5.875% standard 30 yr fixed loan from Hyperion, which was sold to Wells Fargo in a couple of weeks. Our first payment, Feb 1, went to Wells Fargo.

No high fees, no points paid, nothing like that. I just found a great mortgage broker here in Oregon who knew her stuff. Got her name from angieslist.com.

Our credit was above avg and the only other debt is a car loan with about $3k on it. She said we made it easy for her to get us a good loan.

I know there are a lot of ARMs still floating around out there and fancy financing deals but I'm most comfortable with the one we got.

Dsxxxx,
Yes, I follow the Florida market and own property there. The buy-finance deals being offered in Florida are great deals because there is an abundance of houses-condos that are on the market. Yesterday I received information on condos in Orlando. There are about 500 units in 3 comlexes that they know they aren't going to be able to sell in the current market. They are offering low interest rates, will pay the condo fees for first 3 years and the taxes for 2 years. How are they able to do all of this? They are getting full price for condos that they know they will have to discount heavily if they don't sell. in other words, they are selling them for more than they are worth in today's market. So essentialy people are overpaying for the properties, but getting a deal on the other things. Try to sell one of those properties in a year or two, the incentives will be gone for the next buyer there is a good chance that the properties will sell at a loss.
I will do some brousing around on rates. I haven't looked at any for a few months other than what I've seen posted in the newpaper. Maybe I'm behind times.
I know that on large commercial deals there is money out there at good rates.

Well, did a quick search and this is what I found. If somene can point me to a site where they are quoting 30 year fixed with no points at below 6% ( on any old property and not a property that has to be bought from a developer who is providing the financing) I would like to visit the site.
"Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.18 percent this week, down from 6.22 percent last week."
"According to the latest Bankrate report, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped to 6.20 percent this week, while the 15-year fixed rate mortgage popular for refinancing fell back below the 6 percent mark, settling at 5.95 percent. The average jumbo 30-year fixed rate also dipped to 6.41 percent, and the 5/1 ARM and one-year ARM fell to 6.03 percent and 5.99 percent, respectively."

"NEW YORK, March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mortgage rates declined for the third time in the past four weeks, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropping to 6.20 percent. According to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey of large lenders, the 30-year fixed rate mortgages had an average of 0.32 discount and origination points."

"Smart Money.com

The average for 30-year fixed mortgage rates for the week ending March 1 fell to 6.18% from 6.22% a week earlier, Freddie Mac said in its weekly primary mortgage market survey."

For my area on bankrate.com there are several that list below 6% APR with no points, on 30 yr fixed 240k loan. Fees range from $200 - $800.

My 5.875% in December was for a 15 yr old house, not a new development.

What does bankrate.com show for your area?

As with Minet, bankrate.com lists 10-15 companies with rates below 6% fixed with no points/no origination fee for my zip code (georgia). The national average is just that...an average. Meaning, for whatever reason, some parts of the country are lower than the average.

On the Banrate.com site you can look at the mortagage rates and then look for the word in very small print "assumptions". If you click on this word it will give more of a complete story. Part of that story says, "Less than 2% points." I went through Bankrate and about 5 other sites last year. In every case the best anyone could do was the same rate that the bank down the street from me offered. The web site advertised rates were lower, but with the points and their other fees, it was no better than I could get locally.
I would still like to see a site where there are some cheap rates without hidden fees because I would refinance the loan that I did last year.

Someone mentioned a HUD loan. I know that HUD is a Federal Government program. I didn't know that they did loans. Does someone have information on that one? I know there are a few subsidized loans through Federal and certain State agencies, but normally you have to fit their income guidelines. In other words, if income and assets are too high, you don't qualify.

Have you just checked with a local mortgage broker? I used some online sites to get a feel for what was available but went with a local broker to actually sign the papers. It was no big deal ... took just a few days ...