Paying a point to refinance a mortgage means paying a percentage of the total loan up front. A higher mortgage interest rate often has no points, but a lower rate mortgage will often come with points that the borrower pays up front. The important thing to remember is to figure out the break even point for the life of the mortgage if you were to pay for points to refinance.
Home sales in Akron Ohio has improved 3.1% compared to a year ago. Foreclosures also have seen signs of slowing down as this type of housing inventory are diminishing and taken off the market by buyers.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/closetohome/2009-07-06-akron-ohio-home-market_N.htm
Although the overall housing market numbers are lower than the previous years figures, the month to month figures have shown signs of a rebound that appears to be returning to normalcy.
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/07/06/daily29.html
Home sales in the Dallas Fort Worth declined 40% compared to the same quarter last year. Housing starts fell 50%. Home builders and home buyers are still a little spooked by unstable falling home prices.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/070809dnbusdfwnewhomesales.19d20e48.html
Did you know that 32% of home buyers did not know the terms of their mortgage loans? This is what got the housing market into a crisis the first place, a few years back. When you are borrowing larges sums of money for a once in a lifetime transaction, please do everyone a favor and read the contracts and obligations very carefully before signing the dotted line.