Bay Area Housing – Is It Time To Refinance ?

Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 1:56 am

The Bay Area housing market is going through a flux. Just like most parts of the country. Those attractive home
mortgage rates, which for
the most part fueled the buying frenzy in the last few years will soon be history. Sub-prime lenders sold fancy,
innovative mortgage products with little or no collateral to an eager community looking to buy their first home
or invest in real estate. Turn the clock forward a few years to 2006-07 and now most of
the sub-prime lenders going belly up because of the bad loans they made. With big name sub-prime lenders are now getting
bailed out by big banks – it is likely that we are seeing the end of the debacle.

So whether you are in Berkeley, Oakland or Fremont, San Jose or San Francisco, you are most likely going to get affected – especially
if you have newly financed or re-financed your home at extremely low rates in the last few years. It is inevitable – You would
be subject to the interest rates in the market again. The low interest,adjustable rate cocoon that people enjoyed is very likely going
to be pierced soon.

Several areas in the bay area around the 580 freeway (Dublin, Pleasanton, San Ramon) have seen massive building projects.
There continues to be a good inventory in these areas. Housing prices are unpredictable in these areas in the short run.
Several investors had gone into these projects expecting a continued boom.

Don’t despair! The lull in the market may be a good time to refinance your mortgage that is due to adjust soon. While the housing prices in
the San Francisco Bay area in general continues to be stable, the volume of business being transacted since early 2007 has
dropped significantly. If you plan to stay for the long haul in the house you are living in, it makes sense to bite the bullet
and refinance to a longer term mortgage.

If you are thinking about refinancing, go with someone who can give you
quotes from several sources. Lenders who can get you quotes from several national sources is always better than going
with a “big bank”. And always compare mortgage refinance options before you commit.