Just dug into some old mortgage data from October 2023 and it's wild how different things were back then. The october 2023 mortgage rates were sitting at 8.25% for a standard 30-year fixed, which honestly felt pretty heavy at the time. Fifteen-year mortgages were running around 7.39%, and jumbo loans hit 8.12%.

What caught my attention was the payment breakdown - at those october 2023 mortgage rates, you'd be looking at roughly $751 monthly per $100k borrowed on a 30-year. Over the life of the loan, that's like $170k in pure interest. For the 15-year option, payments jumped to $921 per $100k, but you'd save a ton on interest by paying it off faster.

The APR situation was interesting too. Most people don't realize APR includes fees and charges on top of the base rate, so it's usually higher than what you see advertised. Back then, the 30-year APR was 8.19% while the rate itself was 8.25%.

If you were shopping for mortgages in october 2023, the conventional loans needed solid credit (670+) and ideally 20% down to avoid PMI. Government-backed options like FHA loans were more flexible - you could get away with just 3.5% down if your credit was at least 580. VA and USDA loans had their own perks too depending on your situation.

Interesting to see how mortgage markets have shifted since then. Back in october 2023 mortgage rates territory, those 8%+ numbers seemed brutal, but market conditions move pretty quickly in lending.