Never saw 3.6% but just closed on 3.75% 30 year with no points. Total closing costs were $1500 which included all title work and appraisal. My credit union advertised that rate for over a month. I don't see that 3.6% was out of the realm of possibility. (They are at 4% today) And for a while they were at 3.25% on a 15 year.

We have toyed with moving to nicer area but wondered how tough it would be to sell in this market. But we figured if we do it and lose the closing costs, no biggie, it was only $1500.
[/quote]

3.75%, that's a damn good rate my friend! $1500 closing costs...sounds about right with an appraisal. Did you add onto your principle? How much was the origination?

And even though to the consumer the 0.15% is negligible, there can be big price differences between rates...even with the smallest of interest rate differences. The pricing differences can vary throughout the interest rate scale, all depends on the market. I used to price out mortgages for a lender a while back...man, I do NOT miss those days.

 

Not sure the breakdown of the fees but it was $1500 for everything. I think that was for title work and appraisal basically. I don't think there was any origination to be honest. My credit union is usually one of the lower cost places in town. I snagged 2.5% on a 60 month new car loan a couple years ago but that required a little dirty work. (I had to snag 2.75% at another bank, and then my bank would refinance any existing car loan and beat it by a quarter point, but they would not give me that rate outright no matter how hard I tried) And yes, I just rolled it into the new loan.

Remember one thing though when people quote mortgage rates, things can vary by state with lenders because some states may have more regulation or fees and lenders build that into the rate. It is usually not much but can explain an 1/8th point difference one guy might find in one state that you can not.

 

I would be surprised if there was no origination fee as this is how the lender makes money on the front end of the deal...but every lender does things differently. Maybe they called it something else, but I've never heard of a true "no origination fee".

State to state regulation is different, but usually only slightly. The differences in regulation is usually all in the background for the lender and as a consumer, you probably won't notice too much besides maybe a few different documents included in the mountain of documents needing a signature. But yes, it can definitely have an impact on fees which ultimately can affect what the "no cost" rate could be.

Cheers