BEST conventional rates right now!

[Matt Romano]

Will be closing soon on my first house hack :) Decided to do do things a bit differently than the norm by going in with 20% on a conventional loan (to avoid PMI), and to put me at a better equity position to borrow against sooner. Current purchase and sales agreement price is $252,000. I'm locked in at a 30 year fixed rate of 4.625%. This seems pretty typical for a conventional 30yr fixed mortgage, does it not? I was told by the lender that no matter how much you put in on an FHA loan, you'd still have to pay mortgage insurance. Hence one reason I went conventional. Any other pros / cons to using this method assuming you have a comfortable cash position to support it? (FHA vs Conventional). Would love to hear all your thoughts about the matter! Thanks in advance

-Matt

[Cassandra J.]

Rates around 4-5% depending on the condition of your credit sound about right based on experience over the past six weeks.  

This is my first mortgage ever. I'm going the FHA route.
I've done A LOT of shopping around.  As I work to narrow in on my lender of choice, I've been surprised by how much the loan detail varies between them. Namely, origination charges, services you cannot shop for, services you can shop for, and lender credits. 

I was told by one that the only things I should be comparing are interest rate, origination charges (to identify junk fees), and lender credits.

I'm interested in hearing how everyone has approached comparisons in the past.  Are there any other elements I should pay particular attention to at this point in the process?

Thanks in advance for sharing your perspectives!