by Alterna Mortgage | Jul 10, 2024 | Financing, Refinancing
PMI is typically required when you take out a conventional conforming mortgage and put down less than 20%. Your loan servicer must automatically drop PMI when your mortgage balance reaches 78% of your home’s purchase price. It’s possible to cancel PMI in other cases,...
by Alterna Mortgage | May 12, 2024 | Financing, Home Buying, Real Estate
With home prices so high, you may be wondering what salary you’d need to earn to afford a home costing $500,000. This question can be difficult to answer, but with a few simple calculations, you can get an estimate of how much you need to make to purchase a home...
by Alterna Mortgage | May 4, 2024 | Financing, Home Buying, Inflation, Interest rates
The Fed still thinks that its next move will be a rate cut, and Powell clearly said that further rate increases are “unlikely.” Still, it is not clear how much the Fed will manage to cut rates this year. Inflation is cooling more slowly than officials had...
by Alterna Mortgage | Apr 10, 2024 | Financing, Home Buying, Interest rates
Over the past couple of years mortgage rates have risen to the highest rates in 20 years. In March 2024 the current 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate is 6.88% which is more than double what rates were during most of 2020 and 2021. However, when looking at mortgage...
by Alterna Mortgage | Apr 3, 2024 | Financing, Home Buying, Interest rates, Mortgage Programs
While mortgage rates don’t exactly depend on the Fed’s rate decisions, the Fed does have a big influence on the direction they take. And until issues with persistent inflation show more signs of easing, mortgage rates might not drop much. Despite their...
by Alterna Mortgage | May 9, 2023 | Financing, Interest rates, Refinancing
They are fighting a new type of economic battle with the same approach. Even though they hint the issues may be different this time. On Wednesday May 3rd the Federal Reserve’s policy committee lifted interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, the 10th hike of...
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