I got an email this morning from a lender that I work with - 4.25% 30 fixed rates with 2 points origination.
This makes buying a home incredibly cheap, cheaper than it has been in a long time, maybe ever. Everybody should be buying a house and holding it for 30 yrs. I'm serious.
My friend from England told me this week than British buyers can hope for a 5 yr fixed rate at most, and usually more like 2 yrs fixed. He was shocked the US has rates fixed for 30 yrs, and was very excited about buying a house.
Most Americans have no idea how good we have it right now! To put this in perspective, during the mid 70's and early 80's, mortgage rates were up in the 13%-17% range. That would make buying a house basically impossible for most of us today.
Do it now and hold the house forever. Or at least for 30 years.
The average Honolulu house costs about $600k. If you borrow $500k of that, it costs you $2459/month at 4.25%.
At 7%, it costs $3326/ month.
At 10%, it costs $4387/month.
At 15%, it costs $6322/month.