Great real estate info, but not enough about mortgage rates! What’s going to happen in the short-term?
We are currently seeing rates bounce a little around 6.75% (please don’t write me from Iowa, 30-year-fixed rates are higher here.)
You can get a discount on an adjustable-rate mortgage, but in general, the spread is not favorable. At the current time, I would recommend getting a fixed unless an ARM is absolutely the only way to get the home you want, and you’re in an employment situation (e.g. an associate in a large law firm) where you can predict that your income will rise with time.
In the short-term, it looks like rates will stay where they are or possibly rise, so locking in isn’t a bad bet.
(As an agent who has looked at the long-term history of interest rates, I still consider any rate under 8% “favorable”).
For your more detailed mortgage questions, two good places to start are bankrate.com (which sells advertising to mortgage lenders, but has a lot of good personal finance editorial copy) and mtgprofessor.com (which is run by a former Wharton professor, and can help you make decisions by showing you what your different alternative paths are.)