Mortgage rates are on the rise, for the first time in months

Over the past week the market has seen a significant change in the bond market, in plain English mortgage rates have risen across the board – from Fannie Mae to portfolio lenders such as Merit.

Whatever type of loan you have been considering, now might be the time to take action and refinance.  With float down options available and no charge for locking in you can protect yourself from rising rates and still take advantage of record low levels.

If you take a step back and look at where interest rates are, a .125% adjustment is not terrible but every dollar counts, especially in this economy.

Paying your loan off early has gotten even less expensive!

We dropped our rate to 4.00% for 15 year fixed mortgages for a refinance or purchase of a primary or second home.  As with all of our rates, this is good for loan amounts up to $1,500,000.

Paying your loan off early is the single way to save the most money on home ownership.  As home appreciation slows or worse yet drops in certain areas, eliminating your mortgage has become the way to secure your equity and security.

Refinance applications decline for fourth consecutive week… So Merit drops our rates!

In the Mortgage Banker’s Association of America’s weekly survey on data for U.S. residential mortgage applications it showed that for the fourth consecutive week applictaions declined.  The main question is whether demand his beginning to run short.

There’s no better way to increase demand than lower prices!  That is why we dropped our rates today to new record lows!

Here is a list of our updated rates for loan amounts up to 1.5m with no points:

30 year fixed – 5.00%

20 year fixed – 4.375%

15 year fixed – 4.125%

10 year fixed – 4.00%

10/1 ARM – 4.50%

7/1 ARM – 4.125%

5/1 ARM 3.875%

Data on mortgage application survey from http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/09292010_mba_loan_applications.asp

Housing data released 8/25 with poor results

In their release yesterday, the commerce department announced that new home sales fell 12.4% in July from the previous month*.

With home sales underperforming the expected pace for the year it is important to assess your home financing in order to construct a long term plan to gain equity.  With rates at record lows, now is an important and as opportune time as any to look at programs such as 30 and 20 year fixed rates to protect yourself from additional depreciation in property value.

*http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/26markets.html?_r=1&ref=global

And the rates continue to fall!

Today our 30 year fixed rate for all loans up to 1.5m dropped to 5.00% with no points!

Here are the other rate changes for today, all with No Points!:

7/1 ARM – 4.25%

7/1 ARM Interest Only – 4.50%

10/1 ARM – 4.50%

10/1 ARM Interest Only – 4.75%

15 Year Fixed – 4.25%

20 Year Fixed – 4.375%

Rates continue their decline

In the last two days we have seen two of our programs’ rates improve.

Our 30 year fixed rate for loans from 729k up to $1.5m (depending on your LTV) is now only 5.125% while the 20 year fixed has dropped to 4.5% with no points across the board!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Merit Financial Corp blog!  Our goal is to keep our clients and followers informed on the current state of the NJ mortgage market.  Whether it is a change in lending criteria, current rates or new regulations and last but not least, Merit Financial news and programs you will be able to get it all here!

-The Merit Financial Team