Last week mortgage rates hit an all time low at a mere 4.44%. Lower mortgage rates = lower mortgage payments = now is a great time to buy. When interest rates go up even by a little, your payments can change drastically. Here is an example :
Purchase Price $300,000
Down Payment (3.5%) $10,500
Mortgage Amount $289,500
Payment (principal & interest) @ 4.44% $1,457
Payment (principal & interest) @ 5.5% $1,644
Difference in payment $187 per month!!!
When the interest rate went up to 5.5% (which is still extremely low compared to average rates over the past 30 yrs), the payment went up $187 per month or $2244 per year!!! When you pair todays extremely low home prices with these all time low interest rates, now is one of the best times to buy a new home in history.
Read more about these low rates here http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/12/real_estate/mortgage_rates/index.htm
