Bridget Brown

Crissy, I come at this from the perspective of competing against other lenders nationally through one of the national mortgage aggregator web sites. It is great that you have a pre-approval before shopping for a home. I would suggest doing your SERIOUS shopping for a mortgage AFTER you have a contract on a home and know the closing date.

Why? If you are shopping for the lowest rate, lenders know that and some lenders will tell you anything you want to hear and offer low-ball quotes before there is a contract on a home in hopes that they can get you committed to them and pay their application fee. Before there is a contract, a lender cannot lock a rate (with the rare exception of a "lock and shop" which rarely yields the lowest rate while preying on fear). Therefore, there is no accountability for a lender who claims he can offer 5% with no points on a 30 year fixed loan, even though the market is currently over 6%. If an honest lender quotes you 6%, of course you are going to be attracted to the 5% quote, even though it is bogus. If you choose the 5% lender and start the process and pay an application fee, at the time you have a home under contract and the lender can lock the rate, you will find out that you were low-balled. If you opt to switch to another lender, you will likely be out the application fee. It's usually the lenders that really can't compete on rates that practice this low-ball tactic.

If you have the pre-approval in hand and then get a home under contract, THEN you shop for the best terms with other lenders, you stand a better chance of getting honest answers from lenders because they know there is a contract and they can be held accountable for their quotes and rate locks.

I would be happy to compete for your business when you have a home under contract. National Bank Of Kansas City is one of the top 3 lenders in the network where "when banks compete, you win".

John Brown
Loan Consultant
jbrown@nbofkc.com
(800)375-8096 ext 0147 - Fri Oct 17 2008, 11:33

This is a fairly simple issue: Are you going to have the home or the loan longer than 10 years? If the answer is "no", there is no need to do anything right now. Currently, 30 year fixed rates are in the mid-6% range, so if you refinanced to a 30 year fixed loan, you would end up paying higher interest.

If you know without a doubt you will be in the home longer than 10 years, you have to decide what your game plan is. Here are some options:

1) Refinance now, realizing your interest expense and payment will be higher than you currently have.
2) Continue to make the interest-only payment, realizing that after 10 years your loan balance will be amortized over 20 years at 5.875%, making your payment significantly higher. You need to figure what that payment will be and determine if you are comfortable making it at the end of the 10 year interest-only period.
3) Start making principal payments NOW, so you pay down the principal balance to a level after the 10 year period so that when the loan amortizes over 20 years your payment will be manageable.
4) Wait a while and see if rates come back down below 6% and refinance at that time. As recently as two weeks ago, you could get a 30 year fixed rate in the mid-5% range, but the market has worsened dramatically due to fear and "frozen" credit markets.

John Brown
Loan Consultant
(800)375-8096 ext 0147
jbrown@nbofkc.com - Fri Oct 17 2008, 10:36

Hi Michelle!
This home does not have a finished basement, however there are are 3 others for sale in the neighborhood that do! Total lot size is 8400 square feet and it looks like it has a number of mature trees in the back! I do have more information on this home for you......
Visit my website for more information or to contact me.... http://www.BridgetBSellsKC.com - Mon Oct 13 2008, 07:41

Danny,
It looks like you may be serving our country in the military, being in Iraq. Thank you for all you do. I searched the Leavenworth and Lansing areas for you and found only two properties under construction in your price range and one in the 3-5 year old category and one in the 6-10 year old category. All had only 3 bedrooms for that price range (up to $185K). In Lansing I found one 3 bedroom built in 1998 with 1818 square feet. Many of these had finished basements which would be perfect for the pool table! - Thu Oct 2 2008, 14:44