Mortgages

If you bought a home during a high-interest rate environment, it’s wise to prepare for either a mortgage refinance or a recast. Interest rates have been gradually coming down since their highs of 2022, but also started going up after Trump became president. Over the next four years, I suspect millions of existing homeowners will

During my days of purchasing homes with mortgages, I had a fondness for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). The appeal lay in securing a lower interest rate compared to a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. Further, it’s better to align the fixed-rate duration with my planned homeownership tenure. With the average duration of homeownership being approximately 12 years, opting

Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Reserve does not exert complete control over mortgage rates. Instead, it influences them, with the bond market determining the subsequent course of action. The Federal Reserve oversees the Fed Funds rate, which represents the overnight lending rate for banks and stands at the shortest end of the yield curve.

I realized something important for all of you who have automatic mortgage payments and also like to automatically pay down extra principal each month. It is don’t forget to adjust your mortgage autopay amount down when rates increase. When I refinanced a primary residence loan in 2019, I decided to get a 7/1 ARM at

On August 1, 2020, I took out a 7/1 adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) at 2.125%. I could have gotten a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for 2.75%. However, I wanted to save 0.625% in interest. Years later, mortgage rates zoomed higher thanks to the pandemic, massive stimulus spending, a war in Ukraine, a war in Israel, trade

Why The Federal Reserve Does Not Control Mortgage Rates

In 2022, my wife and I paid off our vacation property mortgage after 15 years of ownership. Now that it’s been a while since we paid off the mortgage, I realized there is a triple benefit to paying it off early. I didn’t realize one of these benefits when we paid off another rental property