Finding Refinance Rates/Lenders for Investment Properties

[Daniel Adler]

I'm looking to refinance a condo in Chicago that is a rental unit, and I'm finding it difficult to find posted rates for refinances on investment properties as most of the info is for primary residences. Anyone have good resources to do this type of research? Searching and calling lenders is quite time-consuming.

Also, open to suggestions on mortgage companies with low rates... looking to refinance a 30-year 4.625 APR loan down to something in the low 3s if possible.

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Daniel Adler:

I'm looking to refinance a condo in Chicago that is a rental unit, and I'm finding it difficult to find posted rates for refinances on investment properties as most of the info is for primary residences. Anyone have good resources to do this type of research? Searching and calling lenders is quite time-consuming.

Also, open to suggestions on mortgage companies with low rates... looking to refinance a 30-year 4.625 APR loan down to something in the low 3s if possible.

 It's not just investment property rates you will not find online, it's "real world" in general that no one posts online. It's a race to the bottom if you put your rates out there at all, you're either putting misleading stuff out there, burying ridiculous fees in the small print, or you're honest and thus quickly get a reputation for having high rates. It's just not worth it to play that game if you hold yourself to ANY sort of ethical standard at all.

Low 3s isn't going to happen for a non-owner occupied investment property 30YF, I can tell you that.

You can see FNMA's LLPAs here: 

https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/media/9391/display

Those % are discount points. You can convert them to rate bumps (if you don't want to pay out a ridiculous amount in fees/points) at a ratio of about 1 point equals 0.25% to rate (tacked onto the base owner occ rate on any given day -- rates change daily, sometimes 2-3 times a day, depending on Wall Street). The basic 75% LTV investment property hit is 2.25%, so right out of the gate you're a tad over 0.5% higher than owner occ. Start tacking on the other common 'hits' we see (cash out, 2-4 unit, LTV/FICO, high balance, etc) and typically 0.75% to 1.5% higher than owner occ is where you end up even if you think having a 775 FICO is unusually good (it's not).

You of course do not have to get a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac type loan. There are hard money loans, non-qm, etc, that might not have those adjustments, but the STARTING rate is so much higher that Fannie Mae wins the rate/fee game 99 times in 100.