Despite what you’ve heard about the mortgage crisis, the great majority of borrowers are getting home loans with great rates.   The average cost of a 30-year, fixed-rate loan is 5.625% according to Bankrate.com’s latest weekly survey of major lenders.  That’s the lowest they’ve been since September 2005.

For first-time home buyers — or any buyers for that matter — this is a phenomenal time to purchase a home.  Not only are the interest rates low, but home prices have stabilized quite a bit in Metro Atlanta and there are some very good deals out there.

All of the turmoil you’ve heard about — lenders going out of business, banks and investors losing billions of dollars, soaring foreclosure rates     — is very real.  BUT the mainstream media doesn’t (usually) tell you that the mortgage crisis only hurts only two types of borrowers:

• Those who need to borrow more than $417,000 (called a Jumbo Mortgage) 
• Anyone with bad credit (those with credit scores below 620)

If you are not in the two categories above, then you should seriously consider investing in a new home.  If you have questions about the process, please contact Kerry Lucasse, Keller Williams Buyer Representative and ATLhomesearch.com Team Lead.  We would be honored to help answer your questions and help you find your first home!

GREAT “INTOWN” NEIGHBORHOODS FOR FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS:

>> Grant Park – View all available homes for sale

>> Oakhurst – View all available homes for sale

>> Kirkwood – View all available homes for sale

>> East Atlanta – View all available homes for sale

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 12:07 am and is filed under Buyers, First-time Homebuyer, In the media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.