MetLife Mortgage

what rates are you seeing? They're likely to be changing real quick today...

http://mortgage.metlifebank.com/info/landscape?jpid=FixedRateMortgage

30 year fixed 6.25% no points

Looks about right. Brokers were quoting 6.375% with an eighth of a point earlier today. You save a little by cutting out the middleman and going straight to a portfolio lender.

how does the fed cutting benchmark interest rates by 3/4 of a pt impact the mortgage rates?

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20080318a.htm

Release Date: March 18, 2008

For immediate release

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 75 basis points to 2-1/4 percent.

Recent information indicates that the outlook for economic activity has weakened further. Growth in consumer spending has slowed and labor markets have softened. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and the tightening of credit conditions and the deepening of the housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters.

Inflation has been elevated, and some indicators of inflation expectations have risen. The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting a projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices and an easing of pressures on resource utilization. Still, uncertainty about the inflation outlook has increased. It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully.

Today’s policy action, combined with those taken earlier, including measures to foster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate the risks to economic activity. However, downside risks to growth remain. The Committee will act in a timely manner as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability.

nyc08: Once you combine a steep yield curve, a wide agency spread, the jumbo spread and generally tight credit, the impact of this move on a 30-year fixed-rate jumbo mortgage is likely to be pretty small.

Markznyc,

I got pre-approved at Metlife and their jumbo rates are legit. The problem is their fees are extremely high. I did the math and I was better off with the BofA no fee mortgage plus program. I would recommended going through the full process though with Metlife so you can see the full story.

west81st: I just read on CNN Money that there will probably be a negative impact on mortgage rates i.e., as fears of inflation rises, so does the mortgage rate.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/14/news/economy/ratecut_mortgages/index.htm
Why mortgage rates are still heading higher
The Fed has cut interest rates again, but long-term fixed-rate mortgages may go up.
By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: March 18, 2008: 3:45 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point Tuesday, but don't expect mortgage rates to go down too. In fact, home loans could be heading higher.

at least for long-term rates, whereas ARM mortgages could benefit.

jsey9 --

Thanks . . .that is great info. What kind of fees are we talking about here, if I could ask? Most of the fees I have experienced in the past have been pretty minor -- a few hundred bucks here or there at most.

MarkzNYC,

They charged a loan origination fee which was 1% of the loan ($6K in my case, which is just ridiculous). Then there's an application fee (about $1K), and then a bunch of ancillary things (processing fees, and stuff I've never even heard of) that added up to about another $2K. BofA's no fee mortgage plus covers all these costs plus title insurance (about $4,500) and the bank's attorney fee ($850). So all in my closing costs were about $15K less with BofA. The rates at BofA were higher, but only .125% so I was at better off with BofA.

Thanks for the details; really appreciated.

The loan orig fee seems really high and the application fee is ridiculous; the title insurance (the biggest scam in RE today) seems pretty standard, but if BofA covers that, that is a good deal.

Thanks again!