CLEVELAND — Mortgage rates are getting lower, flipping the housing market so both buyers and sellers can benefit.
“If you're looking to buy, now is the time,” says realtor David Preseren. “If you're looking to sell, you'll probably make more money than you expect.”
It is a sellers’ market but buyers are getting a good deal too.
According to Freddie Mac, a mortgage loan company, rates are at the lowest level in about 50 years.
A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now at 3.29 percent; a 15-year fixed-rate is 2.79 percent.
“We thought last year that they would raise rates to maybe five to six percent and they dropped them,” Preseren said. “When interest rates go down, affordability goes up so that means prices can go up.”
Lower rates are not only helping individual buyers but the real estate market as a whole and with coronavirus at top of our minds and financial institutions, rates might be dipping lower.
Preseren says coronavirus isn’t the only factor, election year might make a bigger difference for buyers.
“Elections is probably the biggest thing too, because people may be afraid that if things change, so will interest rates as well.”
If you are in the market, the best advice is to be aggressive and act fast.
“A lot of houses are selling fast and they're selling off market,” Preseren says. “Now's a great time to buy, I wouldn't put it off.”
If you already own, consider refinancing for a lower rate.
“I bought my house two years ago, it was at 4.8 percent, and just refinanced so it's gonna be 3.2 percent…saves a ton of money.”
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