Solano Real Estate Scene: Marry the house, date the rate

Solano Real Estate Scene: Jim Porter

Article By: Jim Porter – October 28, 2022

Tom Garant, a local VA loan expert, shared this catchy title with me recently. This idea jives with my belief that homeownership is a long-term investment and the mortgage rate you have today can be gone tomorrow.

Well, maybe not tomorrow, but everyone knows rates rise and fall.

Mortgage rates are at a 20-plus year high, which has created this incredible buyer’s market. If you buy a house today and obtain a 6.75% rate mortgage, who says we won’t have another huge refinance mania in 2024 like we did in 2016 at Brexit and again in 2020 at Covid-19?

I would bet any Daily Republic reader $20 right now that 80% of every person who took out a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in 1990 refinanced at least once before the loan was paid off.

I am not sure I believe the Fannie Mae forecast about rates coming down to 4.5% in 2023, but I would be willing to bet $50 that another refi rush will come in the next five years.

Mortgage rates were more than 7% in 1970, more than 9% in 1980, more than 10% in 1990 and more than 8% in 2000.

Buy a house, refinance the mortgage in a few years, work hard and after 30 years, if you avoid dumb financial mistakes, you will be a happy camper.

Jim Porter, NMLS No. 276412, is the branch manager of Solano Mortgage, NMLS No. 1515497, a division of American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, NMLS No. 1850, licensed in California by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the CRMLA / Equal Housing Opportunity. Jim can be reached at 707-449-4777.