Author Topic: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?  (Read 3291 times)

pjrichar

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What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« on: May 07, 2020, 12:26:34 PM »
Looking to see what rates people were getting recently on 15 year refinances? Currently have a 2.875% 15 year with 12 years left on it. Haven't seen anything than that lower right now, but just wondering if I am missing some. Thought they would be much lower right now than what I got 3 years ago. Thanks!

achvfi

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2020, 02:00:31 PM »
The best 15 year fixed refi I have seen is 2.5% no points, early this march. Right around the time lenders got slammed with demand.
Now its seems to hover between 2.75-2.875 no points.

Tyler durden

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2020, 05:34:13 PM »
Best I've seen is 2.875% on a 30 year fixed. On investment properties however I've had my mortgage broker only quote me in the low 4s. That seems off to me given where the 1o year treasury is. Might need to start looking at other banks / brokers.

Dicey

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2020, 12:22:08 AM »
Looking to see what rates people were getting recently on 15 year refinances? Currently have a 2.875% 15 year with 12 years left on it. Haven't seen anything than that lower right now, but just wondering if I am missing some. Thought they would be much lower right now than what I got 3 years ago. Thanks!
Why are you trying to fix something that doesn't seem broken?

LWYRUP

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2020, 07:06:23 PM »
Even better, what companies are people getting these rates from?

Better.com gave me a 2.908 APR for a 15 year based on paying $24 in closing costs.  Or I could get a $939 credit and knock down my APR on a 30 year to 3.395.  (I currently have 3.5 on a 30 year).

Both of these seem like financially net positive transactions but not by enough yet -- I think I can get better if I look harder or wait.   
« Last Edit: May 15, 2020, 07:12:13 PM by LWYRUP »

Chris Pascale

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2020, 10:36:45 PM »
I got 2.75% in 2016 by buying it down.

TeresaB

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2020, 06:19:44 AM »
I could buy points down to 2.25 on a 15 year with Better.com last week. It was about $8k in points IIRC.

JGS1980

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2020, 08:59:55 AM »
I currently am 7 years into a 30 year at 3.25% APR.

I'm looking for a 15 year at 2.5% or less, and have not found it. 820+ credit score.

I'd be willing to do something with a 2 year payback, but would refuses anything that was greater than that as I could just pay an extra 5 K off the mortgage and get similar results.

LWYRUP

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2020, 12:23:14 PM »
I just locked today at 2.625, no points, on a 15 year mortgage.  Through a broker I know personally, the bank is CitizensOne.  LTV is like 60% and credit requirement was above 740 (though we are in the 800s). 

Appraisal waived due to the LTV.  No origination fee, but there are other fees (processing fee, title work, etc.) so I expect I'll pay closing costs a little over $3,000.

There is a whole thread on bogleheads about people scrapping for incredible deals (playing banks off each other, shifting assets to get preferred pricing, etc.) but honestly with a full time job and three little kids I don't have time for that (I took vacation time Friday afternoon to pull this together already), plus this broker is my neighbor so I don't want to lock on a great deal and then just use it to scrap for a few more dollars.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2020, 12:25:04 PM by LWYRUP »

Sibley

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2020, 07:35:24 AM »
Just closed last week on 2.75%, 0 points, closing costs around 2-3k.

Joe Schmo

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2020, 08:40:09 PM »
Closing on 2.625 tomorrow. No points.

EricEng

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2020, 04:08:04 PM »
I'm taking a 2.875% no points 30 year cash out refinance.
They also offered 2.625% no points 15 year. (I was surprised this wasn't lower).
Saw a 2.25%, but very high up front fees.

This was at Watermark loans.  Can provide my broker if anyone needs.  I refinanced once before with him and it was great.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2020, 04:09:58 PM by EricEng »

LWYRUP

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #12 on: August 06, 2020, 06:02:07 PM »
Soo...

Rates have been dropping so I did a quick check with an online lender and was quoted 2.25 for a no fee, no cost 15 year mortgage.  This is with a 60% LTV and 800+ FICO scores and a high income zipcode. 

Anyways, I went back to my original lender to see if they could match or come close, and the broker got really pissed at me, I supposed because I was testing the market when I had locked.  So rather than fully answer my questions, he gave me an ultimatum to tell him what I was going to do by the end of the day or he would pull my file.  I do commercial real estate for my day job, and I don't like false deadlines or being bullied so I didn't respond.  So now I assume that refi is dead.  This guy lives on my street (maybe five houses down) and goes to my church, so that's awkward, but whatever.  I feel even if he was mad that I was looking after we locked, he acted like a jerk so it is what it is. 

I should get written confirmation of the new rate in a few days.  I am hoping this deal (with LenderFi) is real.  If not, back to the drawing board. 

LWYRUP

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2020, 12:23:27 PM »
After some snafus with e-mail going to spam, I got the rate lock paperwork.

2.25 interest rate (2.281 APR but see lender credit), lender credit for all closing costs other than tax and homeowner prepayments in escrow.  (They said I can call up and waive escrow after closing, which I might do, but that it would be easier to process with escrows now.) 

Almost don't believe rates can be this low! 

I know the spread between 30 and 15 years have dropped so that people can get 30 year rates at screaming deals too (like 2.5%) but I want to do a 15 since I just want it paid off quicker.  I worry that with a 30 year I'd start to feel a little more flush in the ole budget, and since I am not a natural mustachian like some others here I'm sure my spending would fill in a portion of that gap.  So I'd rather keep the budget tighter and have this sucker paid off in 15 years.  Kids will be just entering college by then so there will be a new round of bills anyways.

achvfi

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #14 on: August 13, 2020, 12:35:28 PM »
Wow. Congrats. Best I have seen so far.

StarBright

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #15 on: August 13, 2020, 01:15:17 PM »
After some snafus with e-mail going to spam, I got the rate lock paperwork.

2.25 interest rate (2.281 APR but see lender credit), lender credit for all closing costs other than tax and homeowner prepayments in escrow.  (They said I can call up and waive escrow after closing, which I might do, but that it would be easier to process with escrows now.) 

Almost don't believe rates can be this low! 

I know the spread between 30 and 15 years have dropped so that people can get 30 year rates at screaming deals too (like 2.5%) but I want to do a 15 since I just want it paid off quicker.  I worry that with a 30 year I'd start to feel a little more flush in the ole budget, and since I am not a natural mustachian like some others here I'm sure my spending would fill in a portion of that gap.  So I'd rather keep the budget tighter and have this sucker paid off in 15 years.  Kids will be just entering college by then so there will be a new round of bills anyways.

That is nuts! We locked in 2.5%, no points on a 15, also with 800+ credit. Should close by the end of the month. I haven't seen anything lower in my area. We're coming from 3.75 on a 30 year which we are currently paying extra on. The new payment is still less than the total we are paying w/ extra so we'll be able to pay off before 15 years. We are pretty psyched!

We wanted to pay off the house before the kids went to college so we could have plenty available to cash flow for that if we needed to.

monarda

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #16 on: August 16, 2020, 09:50:35 PM »
We are doing a 2.75% 15 year cash out refi, with only $795 closing costs. No appraisal, rapid-refi on our primary residence.
Also for a rental, we're at 3% for a 15 year cash out refi. That one has 1.5 points, but still great for an investment property.

redman77

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #17 on: August 16, 2020, 10:09:13 PM »
Curious as to why there is so much interest in the 15-year program when the rate spread versus the 30-year mortgage is so thin?

Couldn't you just do a 30-year and pay extra principal every month whenever you feel like it? That will give you the option to vary the term at your option between 15 and 30 years. With the straight 15-yr, you're committing to a hefty principal payment every month no matter what. When 30-year financing is this cheap, you might want to keep your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio low so you can free up borrowing capacity for more investor deals. Just something to think about...

monarda

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #18 on: August 16, 2020, 10:17:32 PM »
Curious as to why there is so much interest in the 15-year program when the rate spread versus the 30-year mortgage is so thin?

Couldn't you just do a 30-year and pay extra principal every month whenever you feel like it? That will give you the option to vary the term at your option between 15 and 30 years. With the straight 15-yr, you're committing to a hefty principal payment every month no matter what. When 30-year financing is this cheap, you might want to keep your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio low so you can free up borrowing capacity for more investor deals. Just something to think about...

Our rapid refi goes from our current 12 year loan to a 15 year loan to actually reduce our monthly payments. We're doing it to get cash out AND lower payments. We may pay extra to reduce it the term again (up to the amount of our current monthly payment).
Same idea as you suggest for going to a 30, but 30 year loans are too much total interest for us. We probably won't buy more investor deals, but we have a large HELOC in case we decide to look for any. We aim to pay off these loans, and as it is, we'll be in our 70's when we do.

LWYRUP

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #19 on: August 17, 2020, 07:44:34 AM »
Curious as to why there is so much interest in the 15-year program when the rate spread versus the 30-year mortgage is so thin?

Couldn't you just do a 30-year and pay extra principal every month whenever you feel like it? That will give you the option to vary the term at your option between 15 and 30 years. With the straight 15-yr, you're committing to a hefty principal payment every month no matter what. When 30-year financing is this cheap, you might want to keep your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio low so you can free up borrowing capacity for more investor deals. Just something to think about...

My theory basically is:

1) I am not as mustachian as some of you all and so if I had an extra $1,000 a month free that might start to disappear into nicer vacations, eating out, fancy furniture, ivy league preschool syndrome, etc.

2) With a 15 year mortgage, my mortgage will be done when DD1 turning 22, DS2 is 19 and DS3 is 16.  What I may actually do is kill it a year early so that it is done before we have two college tuitions.  With a 30 year mortgage, that would be hanging around until I'm 65. 

I wouldn't mind non-recourse debt on an investment property, because that would be considered segregated from the rest of my portfolio.  But the goal is just to own where I live free and clear, so a 15 year gets me closer to that goal quicker. 

StarBright

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #20 on: August 17, 2020, 08:06:11 AM »
Curious as to why there is so much interest in the 15-year program when the rate spread versus the 30-year mortgage is so thin?

Couldn't you just do a 30-year and pay extra principal every month whenever you feel like it? That will give you the option to vary the term at your option between 15 and 30 years. With the straight 15-yr, you're committing to a hefty principal payment every month no matter what. When 30-year financing is this cheap, you might want to keep your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio low so you can free up borrowing capacity for more investor deals. Just something to think about...

^ That is mostly what we've done for the last decade but that is also the first place we've cut back when we are looking to loosen up cash flow for fun stuff (instead of looking at other spending). I'd really like to have our mortgage done by the time my second kid goes to college and I'm not always sure I have the discipline to do it.

After doing a few years of research we have come to the decision that we aren't in a good area for the type of rental properties we'd want and we aren't comfortable with being remote landlords. DH is a SWAMI type who never wants to retire and we have plenty in our retirement funds for our age. It doesn't really feel like there is anywhere else efficient to put our money right now (what a lovely place to be in!).

It just made sense for us to grab this mortgage rate. We'll keep paying what we've mostly been paying for the last two years, but now it will be extra principal payments on a 15 year loan instead of a 30 year loan. And if we want to drop the extra payment then we're still making great headway on getting it paid off.

ETA - I see LWYRUP and I have similar reasoning. Makes me curious if pay off mortgage "early" people are more likely to have children than the "never pay early" people.

abstractartifact

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #21 on: August 17, 2020, 12:00:29 PM »
Seeing a ton of sub-3% rates but want to be clear if these are owner-occupied rates or not. I refi'd sub-3% on our home but not seeing anything close to this for non-owner-occupied investment properties. Anyone seeing different?

meandmyfamily

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #22 on: August 17, 2020, 12:07:45 PM »
I just locked in 2.875% on my rental. I did pay a little extra but it was 3.25% with no points.  I can't believe it is that low!

abstractartifact

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #23 on: August 17, 2020, 12:59:50 PM »
that's great. care to share lender in DMs or otherwise?

Enough

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #24 on: August 21, 2020, 11:46:55 AM »
that's great. care to share lender in DMs or otherwise?

+1.  I looked into LenderFI but they are not accepting applications currently due to high demand.

joe189man

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #25 on: August 21, 2020, 02:07:36 PM »
any body get hit with the 50 basis point "adverse market fee" imposed by Freddie and Fannie on their refi?

abstractartifact

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #26 on: August 23, 2020, 09:06:04 AM »
any body get hit with the 50 basis point "adverse market fee" imposed by Freddie and Fannie on their refi?

yeah, definitely. had a few brokers tell me they only expected it to last a few months but who knows..

Sim Simma

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #27 on: August 29, 2020, 03:09:00 PM »
I just closed on 30yr fixed rate 2.5% with no points.  It was a wild couple of weeks.  Started with 2.875% no points and shopped around and each lender kept betting one another.  I got to 2.625% and thought I'd check my existing loan servicer and they came back with 2.5% with no points.  My 2.625% lender ended up matching it, and I went with them because they could close quickly.  We are so happy! 

s0198362

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #28 on: September 11, 2020, 08:05:10 AM »
Managed to close a couple of months back on a 15 year refinance at 2.0% with points (APR 2.537 %).

Was 4 years into a 10 year ARM (30 year term) at 3.25 %.  Had been overpaying that because of the adjustable rate increase due in 2026.  Now paying absolute minimum (less that my over payments) on my new rate.  Extra now maxes out the roth IRA's.


Jack0Life

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #29 on: September 12, 2020, 01:05:53 AM »
Curious as to why there is so much interest in the 15-year program when the rate spread versus the 30-year mortgage is so thin?

Couldn't you just do a 30-year and pay extra principal every month whenever you feel like it? That will give you the option to vary the term at your option between 15 and 30 years. With the straight 15-yr, you're committing to a hefty principal payment every month no matter what. When 30-year financing is this cheap, you might want to keep your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio low so you can free up borrowing capacity for more investor deals. Just something to think about...

Agreed !!
I got a 15 yr a few years back thinking it would be paid off in 5 yrs.
Now I wish I had gotten a 30 yr. I feel like all the principle in my primary home isn't working for me.

LWYRUP

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Re: What low 15 year refi rates has everyone found?
« Reply #30 on: October 15, 2020, 10:45:21 AM »
After some snafus with e-mail going to spam, I got the rate lock paperwork.

2.25 interest rate (2.281 APR but see lender credit), lender credit for all closing costs other than tax and homeowner prepayments in escrow.  (They said I can call up and waive escrow after closing, which I might do, but that it would be easier to process with escrows now.) 

Almost don't believe rates can be this low! 

I know the spread between 30 and 15 years have dropped so that people can get 30 year rates at screaming deals too (like 2.5%) but I want to do a 15 since I just want it paid off quicker.  I worry that with a 30 year I'd start to feel a little more flush in the ole budget, and since I am not a natural mustachian like some others here I'm sure my spending would fill in a portion of that gap.  So I'd rather keep the budget tighter and have this sucker paid off in 15 years.  Kids will be just entering college by then so there will be a new round of bills anyways.

Ok, just writing to close the loop.   The loan closed, it is real.  The title company messed up and I had to redo the paperwork twice but it's done.  My monthly payment went up by about 5% and in return I am going to pay off my house in 15 years rather than roughly 21 with no fees.  This is a great deal, I'm really happy. 

I also think the "have more of your money disappear into forced savings to create the illusion of a tighter budget" is a psychological trick that works with me.  So I feel like I'll save more this way.  Also, since I am getting a screaming deal, I don't have an itchy trigger finger to prepay any more than my monthly minimums. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!