Thanks, HLS. Yes, that up front fee for FHA loan is quite a bit, and the rates are not usually competitive. I was surprised too, when the officer that did my first home loan suggested it (yes, I was a knife-catcher in 2004 -but he gave me the best deal in town at the time)…

I know I’d miss the lowest mortgage rates but we are still looking around at houses in PQ/CMR and haven’t yet decided to pull the trigger. A historically low rate is great, but a 15-20% drop in home values is better (for us)…if the rates don’t go up much!….if we don’t *have* to have 20% downpayment to get a decent loan!

I know, I know…If, if, if!!! Let me explain….I don’t care about being *that* close to the bottom, and I know the rates may go up significantly in the future, but I’d hate to be a knife-catcher again. Only by extremely fortunate timing we managed to get out with just a little loss at the end of summer 2007. It was nerve-wrecking, I can tell you…. that’s why we are still on the fence.