Current Idaho Mortgage and Refinance Rates

The condition of the housing market is only one factor that goes into determining mortgage rates — your personal financial profile also plays a big role.

With that in mind, here are some steps you can take to get the best mortgage rate possible when you’re ready to buy a home:

1. Raising your credit score: Your credit score impacts the interest rate you’re offered for your home loan. Usually, only borrowers with excellent credit scores can access the lowest rates. Given that, if you have poor or fair credit, it may be a good idea to try and raise your score before applying for a mortgage.
2. Dropping your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio: At its core, your DTI ratio reflects the percentage of your income that goes toward paying off debt each month. Lenders use this to measure how well you’d manage a new mortgage payment. In mortgage lending, they typically look for your ratio to be 43% or less. To that end, if you need to lower your ratio, consider increasing your income or working to pay down your debts.
3. Selecting a single-family home: Single-family homes are traditionally offered the lowest interest rates of any property type. These rates are usually lower than the rates for manufactured homes, multifamily homes, vacation homes or investment properties.
4. Purchasing mortgage points: Including a few mortgage points in your closing costs can also be a smart way to lower your interest rate. It allows you to secure a more affordable rate by paying some of your interest charges upfront. Typically, using this method can reduce your rate by up to 0.25 percentage points for each mortgage point you purchase, at a cost of 1% of your mortgage amount.
5. Gathering multiple loan estimates: Getting loan estimates from three to five lenders can also help you save thousands over the life of your home loan, LendingTree data shows.

→ Idaho conventional loans: As long as you have a relatively strong financial profile, you may qualify for a conventional loan. These loans meet minimum mortgage requirements put forth by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so they’re typically considered the most desirable home loans.

→ Idaho FHA loans: FHA qualifying requirements are usually more flexible than conventional loans. For instance, you can qualify for one of these loans with a credit score as low as 500, provided you can make a 10% down payment. However, if your score is at least 580, you’re only required to make a 3.5% down payment.

→ Idaho VA loans: Idaho’s eligible military members may want to consider a VA loan instead. These loans come with several benefits, including the fact that they don’t require a down payment or mortgage insurance. However, you should be aware that individual lenders can still impose their own lending guidelines.

→ Idaho streamline refinances: Borrowers who are looking to refinance existing government-backed loans may be able to take advantage of a simplified underwriting process. Both the FHA streamline refinance and VA interest rate reduction refinance loan (IRRRL) programs give qualified borrowers the chance to refinance their existing FHA or VA loan while imposing fewer requirements and asking for less paperwork.