Are those really standardized in the US?<p>Where I live the condition vary widely. And basically the switching costs might easily dominate the total costs if you move/sell.<p>I've found that taking this into account it was better to trade a few places in term of interests for better conditions.
Yes, extremely, especially for confirming loans: <a href="https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/originating-underwriting/loan-limits" rel="nofollow">https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/originating-underwriting/...</a><p>Patrick McKenzie (<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11">https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11</a>) has a great deep dive on this: <a href="https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/mortgages-are-a-manufactured-product/" rel="nofollow">https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/mortgages-are-a-manuf...</a><p>Closing/switching costs are certainly a consideration still, but the "Truth in Lending Act" (TILA) made it easier to compare the all-in cost by providing a standardized APR number, which is what the dashboard focuses on.
CU suggestion: Kansas City's largest, CommunityAmerica Credit Union<p><a href="https://www.communityamerica.com/about-us" rel="nofollow">https://www.communityamerica.com/about-us</a>
My credit union gives me better rates if I'm "active", which means some number of transactions per month. Thus you really need to pick a credit union and start using them a few months before if you want the best rates. (maybe, depending on how that credit union works)
Yeah, there's a somewhat wide variance in CUs, in terms of rates, quality of service, etc. I called a few just to spot check and these public rates are supposedly about as good as they can do. From what I gather, even the large CUs (like Transportation FCU) just don't have that sophisticated of an operating model.
This is absolutely fantastic. I wish this included commercial loans like DSCRs...
It's always fun to open the front page of HN and see a familiar face. I went to college with this guy! Congrats on shipping Mahmoud!
God I wish we had 30 year fixed mortgages here in Australia. Imagine getting one of those during covid when rates were below 3%. Incredible.
There are downsides.<p>I have a really great rate on my mortgage, but our house is super expensive and small for our family… but now we can’t afford to move.<p>If we moved to a new house, we would have to pay off this great mortgage and get a new one, at a much higher interest rate. Even if we found a house that cost the exact same as ours, the monthly payment would be 50% higher, because current interest rates are more than twice what we have. We are locked into our house.
Do 30-year mortgages make the other houses more expensive somehow? It sounds like you got a good deal and any change would be worse than the good deal you got. I'd appreciate it if I was you.<p>Edit: unless you mean that the downside of 30-year mortgages is you hardly get to pay off the principal in the first several years and don't build much equity maybe? That's more a "long mortgages" thing.
This is some drawback. "I have access to the same bad alternatives as everyone else."
just makes the prices higher... you qualify for a house based on ratio of income to payment. so the demand is heavily influenced by the type of financing available..<p>Other than natural demand, Australia has a high real estate market due to the tax and a superannuation/pension distortions. Should try to fix those first. (probably impossible)
Haha, wait until you hear about our fancy 50-year mortgages we'll be getting any day now!<p>But seriously, my favorite discovery when researching CU mortgages is the prevalence of the 15/15 ARM. It's fixed for 15 years, and then adjusts once. Most people refinance within 7 years, or move within 12. So it's like a 30Y fixed, but comes in at 20 basis points cheaper (0.2% lower APR).
> No signup, no ads, no referral fees.<p>Nice
"Rates" dropdown doesn't seem to work. I'm using uBlock Origin.