$$ Savings in interest rates for Fort Collins borrowers

With the recent takeover of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, the interest rates for homes took a nose dive which is a great thing for borrowers.  Here is a quick snapshot of the potential savings for a homeowner that purchases a home with today’s interest rates compared to last week…and possibly next week or next month.

Last week in Fort Collins, a borrower with solid credit could have received a 6.5% interest rate and that same borrower can get an interest rate of 5.93% (according to Fannie Mae’s average) though there is a range of 5.625% to 5.875% in Fort Collins for a 30-year fixed, but for this exercise I’ll be a little conservative so the actual $$ savings could be greater.

Loan amt    Mort. (P&I) @ 6.5%      Mort. (P&I) @ 5.93%      $ saved/mo

 $100K                  $632                                  $595                           $37

 $150K                  $948                                  $893                           $55

 $200K                  $1,264                               $1,190                        $74

 $250K                  $1,580                               $1,488                        $92

 $300K                  $1,896                               $1,785                        $111

 $350K                  $2,212                               $2,083                        $129

 $400K                  $2,528                               $2,380                        $148

 $450K                  $2,844                               $2,678                        $166

 $500K                  $3,160                               $2,975                        $185

 $600K                  $3,792                               $3,570                        $222

 $700K                  $4,424                               $4,165                        $259

 $800K                  $5,057                               $4,760                        $297

 $900K                  $5,689                               $5,356                        $333

 $1Mil                    $6,321                               $5,951                        $370

So as you can see, a borrower can save a significant amount of money each month by locking in a low interest rate.  I’d suggest not waiting too long as these rates will begin to climb soon.

If you know of someone in the Fort Collins or surrounding area that could benefit from this information please send them this blog or have them contact me directly at: RealtorMike@MikeMalvey.com and visit www.SearchFortCollinsMLS.com to look for available homes in the Fort Collins area.

Your comments and feedback are always welcomed.  We just surpassed 14, 600 views on my blog!!  Thanks for your interest.

The Fort Collins, Colorado Real Estate Market

Don’t believe the negative hype from the media!  If you watch the nightly news or follow the newspapers, one would think that the housing market is doomed and that the bottom is going to fall out.  But what needs to be explained is that there are market corrections going on across the country, especially both coasts, where home prices experienced double digit and in some cases triple digit appreciation so it makes sense that those markets are now “paying” for the rapid increase to home prices.

However, all real estate is local and though there are many parts of our country experiencing high inventory and low sales, our local real estate market is still doing just fine.  Here in Fort Collins, Colorado, our home inventory is 15% to 20% below home sales in the past two years.

In addition, our residential vacancy rates have been steadily declining into the single digits while the rental rates have been increasing.  There are approximately 5,000 more people employed in Northern Colorado today compared to one year ago.

All of these are factors in the supply and demand law of economics and with Fort Collins experiencing a decline in home supply and a simultaneous rise in demand, it leads to the assumption that home prices will begin to rise shortly.

Last weekend the Treasury Department took over control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which resulted in interest rates dropping below 6%! 

With all of these factors positively affecting our local Fort Collins real estate market, it is a wonderful opportunity for buyers, sellers and investors.

For more information about the Fort Collins real estate market, please email me at: RealtorMike@MikeMalvey.com and visit www.SearchFortCollinsMLS.com.

As always, your comments and feedback are appreciated.  And there have been over 14,500 views on my blog!  Thanks for the read!

The Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Takeover

There was big, breaking news that happened over the weekend that will dramatically affect interest rates in a positive way for buyers, especially those first time home buyers. 

The Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, announced on Sunday, September 7 plans to take over control and oversight of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are “government-sponsored enterprises” (GSEs) that provide a secondary market for home mortgages by purchasing mortgages from the lenders that originate them. They hold some of these mortgages while others are “securitized” — or sold in the form of securities guaranteed by the GSEs. Together, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold approximately one half of all mortgage debt in the country.

The actions now being taken by the Treasury are meant to stabilize financial markets, ensure mortgage availability and affordability, and protect the American taxpayer.

As of this morning when I checked with our local mortgage companies for rates in the Fort Collins area, the 30-year fixed rate dropped below 6% with a range of 5.625% to 5.875% on a 30 day lock (APR’s would be 0.25% to 0.375% higher).

 

Most likely these low interest rates will not last too long so if you are thinking about purchasing a home then now might be an optimum time to lock your rate.

These rates should help our Fort Collins real estate market with a bump in sales over the next couple of months.

For more local (Fort Collins & Northern Colorado) real estate news, please email me: BostonMike@MikeMalvey.com or visit www.SearchFortCollinsMLS.com.