Mortgages. What you Need to Know in 2009 to Buy a Charlotte Home

Mortgage rates are at historic lows and may be poised to go even lower next year. It's a great time to buy a Charlotte Home if you can. With all doom and gloom over housing, you might be surprised to know that this is a fantastic time to get a mortgage.  Not if you have poor credit, for sure. Do you integrate your 30 year fixed-rate conforming loan these days if you have a solid FICA score, a manageable debt burden, and proof positive of a reliable income? You have to go back to around 1961 to find a time when 30 year mortgages had rates this low according to Keith Gumbinger a vice president at financial publisher HSH Associates in Pompton Planes, New York. For that, the US government, which is trying to jumpstart the stalled housing market by buying up mortgage-backed securities. On December 31, Freddie Mac reported the average rates on 30 year fixed mortgages dropped 5.1 for the week down about 1.3% points since late October and the lowest since the survey began in 1971. Rates are probably headed even lower in 2009, raising the question of whether you should borrow now or wait for a better deal. Experts are sharply divided over this one. Put it this way, if you're a gamer, wait. If you can't sleep at night worrying those rates will go up from here or now. Here are some key things you need to know about today's mortgage market. Now more than ever shop around.  In ordinary times one loan is about as good as another because most lenders that offer 30 year loans are clustered within or around a quarter of a percentage point. Not now. With the economy so shaky, lenders are all over the map in how much risk to take in making loans. So, it really pays to shop around. And keep checking, because rates are consistently changing. One day in late 2008, Wells Fargo was offering conforming loans of 5% plus one point while Wachovia was offering the same time loan to 6.625+1 .according to Cameron Finley chief economist of lendingtree.com. No offense to Bank of America, but only a sucker would've borrowed from it instead of Wells Fargo that day. Forget what you were told in quieter times about the pros and cons of fixed versus adjustable rate mortgages, these days all the best deals are on fixed-rate loans because that's the segment of the market that the government has been targeting with support. The security securitization of adjustable-rate loans has mostly dried up, some things don't want to or originate arms therefore they don't offer a check of rates on them since HSH says Gumbinger. On the other hand if you got an ARM in the past and it’s coming up on interest rate reset don't rush to unload it. Short-term interest rates have gotten so low that you will likely see your monthly payment fall. Thank your lucky stars if your ARM happens to be indexed to the one-year treasury bill this year's deal has fallen below half a percent even with the typical spread added on, you're still paying only about 3.25% a year, says Gumbinger.  Adjustable-rate mortgages indexed to the London Interbank Offered Rate are resetting these days to the low 4’s, which is still excellent