Interest Rates

Interest rates are under 5.5% right now. Just had a buyer get a 95% loan on a $170k home with no PMI(private mortgage insurance). This caused their interest rate to be a little higher. Banks usually like to have you put at least 20% down to avoid PMI. Paying a higher interest rate is another way to avoid paying PMI if you don't have 20% to put down. But, they got a special type of loan where the lender paid most of their closing costs. Since we also had the seller paying their closing costs, we were able to use the closing costs money from the seller to buy down the interest rate. So, they ended up with a 5.75% interest rate with no PMI and all their closing costs and pre-paid items paid for by someone else! Having the right lender can make a hugh difference. A good realtor should have at least 3 lenders to recommend to you. Then it's up to you to get the best deal.