Just looking back at what was happening with mortgage rates in March 2024 and it's wild how much the market moves. Back then, if you were shopping for a 30-year fixed, you were looking at around 7.50% - that was up from 7.37% the week before. The 15-year options were sitting at 6.69%, so there was a decent gap between the two if you wanted to pay things off faster.

What struck me about March 2024 mortgage rates was how the APR (annual percentage rate) told a different story than just the interest rate alone. The 30-year APR was 7.40%, which included all those lender fees on top of the base rate. For a 100k loan at that time, you'd be paying roughly 699 bucks a month in principal and interest - that's over 150k in total interest if you stuck with it for 30 years.

Jumbo mortgages were running at 7.45% around the same period, so not too far off from the standard rates. If you had a 750k jumbo loan locked in at that rate, you're talking about 5,200 a month just in principal and interest payments.

The whole March 2024 mortgage rates situation really showed how much your credit score and debt-to-income ratio matter. People with solid credit (670-850 range) could qualify for conventional mortgages, while government programs like FHA, VA, and USDA loans offered different paths depending on your situation. FHA was letting folks with lower credit put down 3.5% to 10%, VA loans had zero down options for eligible veterans, and USDA loans in rural areas meant you could potentially buy with nothing down.

One thing that surprised me was how much the rate lock period mattered - most lenders would lock you in for 30 to 60 days free, but going longer meant extra costs. When you're comparing what different lenders offer, that stuff adds up quick. The whole refinancing question came down to whether the new rate was worth the fees to switch, which is why people were constantly running those numbers back then.