Font Resize"We've been very busy. April 30th, the federal credit for first time homebuyers ended so there was a bit of a lull in sales, but with this latest drop in interest rates we are very busy again," says Loan Officer Richard Mantyla of Residential Mortgage.
Officials say even though they don't think these low rates will go away any time soon, that could change at any moment so you might want to think about jumping on the chance.
"Who knows? It could go up at anytime, so I think it's always a good time if someone is thinking about buying," says Corporate Communications Officer Sherrie Simmonds of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. If you already own your own home, housing experts say refinancing would be a good option.
"Refinancing is basically where you take out a new mortgage to pay off your existing mortgage and depending on what your interest rate is now, if you can improve your rate at least one percent it's certainly worth considering," says Mantyla.
"If someone has an interest rate and they've already bought their home and maybe they have an interest rate that they paid eight percent on or even more several years ago, then with the interest rates as low as they are right now, they can go back in with a very minimal amount of paper work and can refinance and get that lower rate," according to Simmonds.
However, housing
"If they're going to own their home for a while longer and if they can improve their interest rate, what they should do is investigate what the costs of refinancing are and then figure out how long they would need to remain in their home to make back those costs in the form of lower house payments," says Mantyla.
To contact the Newsroom, call 907-274-1111.
Comment Ground Rules
