Low Mortgage Rates Could Save You Big Money
CHICAGO (CBS) Whether you are behind or on time with your mortgage, Thursday's drop in interest rates probably got your attention.
Rates are now at an all-time low: 4.19 percent for a 30-year loan.
So, is this the right time to refinance? CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman takes a look.
The Haralampopoulos family put money back in their pockets simply by refinancing again.
"We've done it annually now for the past five years because the rates keep dropping," Chris Haralampopoulos says.
Boy, do they ever. The folks over at Perl Mortgage say a fixed-rate thirty year is at about 4 percent. You can get a fixed-rate 15-year for well under 4 percent.
And the five-year ARM is running under 3 percent.
That means piles and piles of re-fi paperwork.
"The last couple of days we've just barely been keeping up," Dan Vlamis says.
That's because homeowners are taking advantage of what he calls historic low interest rates, the lowest they've been in about 40 to 50 years.
Vlamis crunched the numbers on their average loan amount of $350,000. Home owners could save about $3,800 a year or $300 a month.
But not everyone can refinance. Vlamis says it's "back to the basics" in determining who qualifies for financing.
The Haralampopoulos family have kept reaping cash with every re-fi they've done. They paid no closing costs -- that helps. Vlamis interest rates have the potential to go even lower.
His advice, though: Take what you can get now.
