Jeff Ostrowski has closely covered two nationwide housing booms and one devastating bust. Before joining Bankrate in 2020, he spent more than 20 years writing about real estate, business, the economy and politics. He previously worked as a reporter at the Palm Beach Post and the South Florida Business Journal.
Since 2019, Jeff has served on the board of the nonprofit National Association of Real Estate Editors. He twice has won gold awards in the group’s journalism contest. His Bankrate coverage of housing affordability was also honored with a Best in Business award from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
When he’s not working, Jeff enjoys surfing, biking and traveling, usually with a surfboard or bike.
Jeff is the author of How to Buy a Home in a Miserable Market, available in paperback and e-book on Amazon.
When you’re applying for a mortgage, shop around and do your homework — informed borrowers can save thousands of dollars over the life of their loan. Don’t fixate on finding the absolute perfect option, though, or timing your loan to a low point for mortgage rates. If you’re borrowing now, mortgage rates could go down in the future. Avoid worrying about all those things that are both out of your control and impossible to predict.
The average rate you'll pay for a 30-year fixed mortgage today is 6.96, the average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 6.24 percent, and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM is 6.57 percent.
The way real estate commissions work just changed for both buyers and sellers.
An industry-shaking lawsuit has upended the way commissions are paid.
For much of the U.S., the divide between conforming loans and jumbo mortgages will be $766,550.
The current average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 7.03, the average rate for the benchmark 15-year fixed mortgage is 6.30 percent, and the average 5/1 ARM rate is 6.57 percent.
Home prices keep growing, but have slowed their pace a bit.
The housing affordability crunch has led to at least one unexpected outcome for first-time homebuyers: less space.
They both related to property ownership, but one is a physical thing and the other is abstract.
A tug of war is playing out in the mortgage market. Inflation is pushing rates up, while fears of a recession are pulling them back down.
Until inflation is tamed, mortgage rates are likely to keep rising.
The highest inflation in decades will push rates up. But will war in Ukraine pull rates back down?
Mortgage rates are unlikely to fall to 2021 levels, but the big moves could be over for now.
Some options if you want a house but your savings are small.
It’s a mortgage has to adhere to certain standards — to protect both you and the lender.
