While home prices in the Baltimore area may have softened in recent months, steady mortgage rates give homeowners an opportunity to make improvements that can mean big bucks in the future.
The Federal Reserve Board, which sets the rates banks charge each other for money ? which impacts all other interest rates ? has kept rates steady in recent weeks. At the same time, home mortgage rates have remained steady, driving more people to file mortgage applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. In the past week, the association reported, the number of mortgage applications including refinancing rose 1.8 percent from the previous week. And, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage stands between 6 1/8 percent to 6 5/8 percent, depending on points. Those rates remained unchanged throughout the week.
