Mortgage expert warns of rising home prices while interest rates lower

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mortgage expert Tom Hlava joined WISH-TV Sunday morning to talk about today’s market and what it means for home buyers, sellers, and homeowners.

Hlava told News 8’s Stacey Schooler that the Federal Reserve does not change mortgage rates. They change the federal funds rate, which he says is more closely tied to car loans and credit cards.

Hlava says that if we wait until the mortgage rate drops, there will be many more buyers and prices will rise even further.

“Should I wait until the Colts are just about ready to go to the Super Bowl to buy tickets to a game? Probably not, because by then it’s a little bit too late. The market has gone way up. I think it’s pretty much the same way with interest rates”.

The new average home price in Indianapolis for a two- to three-bedroom house is $250,00 to $300,000.

“When I started in the mortgage business many, many years ago, rates were 13% and 14%. But houses were, like you said,

$ 70,000- $ 80,000. We don’t have those houses. Now it’s a half million dollars”.

Hlava added that there is a program for the families of first responders and a duty death program that will erase the loan for that first responder’s family.