Mortgage and Refinance Rates in West Virginia

Today's Rates In West Virginia

From Barboursville to Williamstown, West Virginia has some wonderful communities to call home. You've chosen to hang your hat, now you need to find the West Virginia mortgage rates that are available.

MortgageLoan.com can assist you throughout the mortgage search, with reliable information to help you become a savvy borrower, accurate mortgage calculators to run the numbers, and tables of current mortgage rates to check the temperature of the market. When you're ready to start shopping for your loan needs, you request personalized rate quotes from West Virginia lenders tailored specifically for you, with no cost or obligation.

Here's your roadmap to shopping for low rate mortgage loans:

• Educate yourself about the options.
• Clarify your objectives.
• Shop around.
• Crunch the numbers.

West Virginia First-time Homebuyers' Loans

If you've never bought a home before, the process of shopping for a mortgage can seem a bit intimidating. Small differences in mortgage rates can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in interest charges over the duration of a 30-year loan, so you want to choose carefully.

Getting a mortgage isn't just about the best rate, it's about finding the best type of loan for you. Some West Virginia home loans may offer low rates, but have higher fees that make them less attractive. Or they may require a larger down payment than you can afford right now.

Here's a look at some of the most common first-time homebuyer loans available to West Virginia borrowers:

West Virginia FHA loans

These are the classic mortgages for first-time homebuyers in West Virginia and elsewhere. With lenient credit requirements and low down payments, they're easier to qualify for than conventional mortgages are.

West Virginia borrowers with weaker credit scores and smaller down payments can often get lower mortgage rates with an FHA loan than with other types of loans as well. Down payments can be as little as 3.5 percent even for borrowers with credit scores as low as 580.

On the downside, FHA loans have higher upfront fees than conventional loans do, though those can often be rolled into the loan. Borrowers who put down less than 10 percent on an FHA loan also need to pay monthly mortgage insurance premiums for the life of the loan, which is another added expense (though you can eliminate them by refinancing to a different loan when you reach 20 percent equity).

Conforming mortgages

Also called conventional mortgages, these are home loans that conform to the standards set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and are the most common type of loans for home purchases and mortgage refinancing in the country.

Conforming mortgages have stricter credit and down payment requirements than FHA loans do, but still are accessible to many first-time homebuyers. The minimum credit score is 620, though borrowers with lower scores will pay higher mortgage rates than those with good-to-excellent credit. Down payments can be as little as 3 percent for borrowers with good credit, though lower down payments again mean paying higher mortgage rates.

Borrowers who put down less than 20 percent must pay for private mortgage insurance, similar to an FHA loan. However, this insurance can be canceled on conforming loans once you reach 22 percent equity through regular loan amortization.

VA Loans

For eligible veterans and active duty service personnel, VA loans offer the option of a no-down payment mortgage, with no monthly charges for mortgage insurance. West Virginia VA mortgage rates are competitive as well.

VA borrowers who can make a down payment of 5-10 percent are charged a lower funding fee, which ranges from 1.25-3.3 percent and is charged on all VA loans. The fee can often be added onto the loan itself, so you don't necessarily have to pay it up front.

About West Virginia mortgage rates

Mortgage rates vary from lender to lender and from borrower to borrower. The rate you're charged will depend on a variety of factors, including the type of loan you choose, your credit score, down payment, loan amount and more.

That's why it's important to shop around. West Virginia mortgage lenders have different ways of structuring their loans, so the one that has the best rate for your cousin or best friend may not hav the best deal for you.

When shopping for a mortgage, don't just focus on the rate. Look at the fees as well. Closing costs commonly run from 2-6 percent of the loan amount, which is a sizeable chunk. A loan with a low rate but high fees may not be the bargain it appears.

Rather than comparing mortgage rates, it's a good idea to compare the APR on different loans instead. The APR, or annual percentage rate, is a way of expressing the total cost of a loan, both rate and fees, in the form of an annual percentage. Particularly with fixed-rate loans, it's a more accurate gage of the cost of a loan than the mortgage rate by itself.

You also want to pay attention to discount points. Discount points are a special kind of fee, a type of prepaid interest, which allows you to buy a lower rate. Each point costs one percent of the loan amount and lets you lower your rate by a fraction of a percentage point. Buying points can save you money over the long term, but they are also used by some lenders to offer rates that seem to undercut the competition. Look carefully at any loan offers where the rate includes multiple points.

Home equity loans

If you have sufficient equity and income, you can take out a second mortgage to convert your home equity into cash. There are two main types of second mortgages – a traditional home equity loan and a home equity line of credit, or HELOC.

A traditional home equity loan lets you borrow a certain sum of money, usually at a fixed rate. A HELOC is like a credit card secured by your home that you can draw against as needed and has an adjustable rate. HELOCs are often interest-only loans during the time you can draw against them, before you have to repay the loan principle, which gives them a certain financial flexibility as well.

Interest rates on West Virginia home equity loans run higher than on mortgages used for a home purchase or refinance, but usually are considerably lower than rates on other, unsecured types of loans. You can use the funds from a home equity loan or HELOC for whatever purpose you wish, with home improvements, educational expenses, medical bills and small business startups being some of the most popular uses.

Comparing

As a prospective mortgage borrower, you should compare financing options at each stage of your mortgage search:

• Before you begin contacting lenders, you can read up on mortgage types available and market interest rates. Check the links at the top and bottom of this page for more information.
• As you start collecting mortgage rate quotes, compare your offers against market rates and each other. You can contact individual West Virginia mortgage lenders directly or use the form at the top of this page to request personalized quotes from multiple lenders online.
• Once you receive several mortgage offers, use a mortgage calculator such as the ones linked to below to run the numbers and see what your budget can handle and to determine which is the best loan for you.
• If you're shopping for a home, contact the lender you've selected to request a preapproval letter you can show to homesellers as evidence of your ability to get a loan. If refinancing, contact the lender you've chosen to lock in your rate and begin the application process.

You're on your way! Good luck!