Business & Finance Finance

California Mortgage Rates And Refinance Rates: Finding The Best Interest Rate

Buying a home in California or any where else can be a very scary experience. Buying a home will be the most expensive purchase one ever makes. Not having a good understanding of the types of mortgage loans available can cost you thousands of dollars more in fees and interest payments. Why not take the "scary" out of buying a home and save yourself a bundle?

Getting the lowest rates from banks, credit unions and mortgage companies can be done by comparison shopping online. You can get the best California mortgages and mortgage rates by searching mortgage rates databases for the state of California. Whether you're looking for a conforming mortgage, jumbo mortgage, adjustable mortgage or interest-only mortgage you can find the lowest current mortgage rates online.

Conforming home mortgages in California are the most popular type of mortgage for home buyers in California. Conforming mortgages, also known as conventional mortgages, are mortgages that meet certain criteria set out by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). There is a dollar mortgage loan limit set for each county in the United States. Higher mortgage loan limits are set for high housing cost areas.

California mortgages that "conform" to the standards set out by the Federal Housing Finance Agency can be purchased by government sponsored entities (GSE) like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This process guarantees California banks, mortgage companies and credit unions are able to resell home mortgage loans that they make. This process also makes California conforming mortgage rates lower than California jumbo mortgage rates because the GSE's can't purchase jumbo mortgages that are made by California home finance companies, credit unions and banks.

Jumbo mortgages in California are for home loans that have a dollar amount that is higher than conventional loan amounts. Jumbo mortgage rates are always higher than conventional mortgage rates for both fixed mortgage rates in California and adjustable mortgage rates in California. Interest rates are higher because third party investors buy the home loans credit unions, banks and mortgage companies in California make.

California fixed rate mortgages are the most common mortgage available to borrowers. With a fixed mortgage the interest rate stays the same for the entire loan period. Fixed mortgages are available in 40 years, 30 years, 20 years, 15 years and 10 years. The longer the mortgage term the lower the monthly mortgage payment will be.

California adjustable loans have a fixed rate period and then the rate adjusts every year after. The most common adjustable loan terms available in California are 1 year, 3 year, 5year and 7 year.

Adjustable rate loans are advertised as 1 year, 3/1, 5/1 and 7/1. Adjustable loans are available for conforming dollar amounts and jumbo dollar amounts in California. Most adjustable loans in California have yearly caps and life time maximum caps on how high the interest rate can fluctuate.

If you're thinking about refinancing or buying a home in California but have been on the fence since interest rates have been making record lows you probably missed the boat. Trying to time the market is almost impossible. Rates hit a low late in 2010 but have since gone higher. Rates will head even higher since inflation is heading up. The Fed will raise interest rates soon. This will cause mortgage rates, CD rates and savings rates to head higher.

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