Just got curious about what September 2023 mortgage rates looked like back then and man, things were pretty different from now. The average on a 30-year fixed was sitting at 7.68% - which felt pretty high at the time. I noticed the 15-year fixed was lower at 6.76%, which always makes sense since you're paying it off faster.

What struck me is how much the monthly payment difference mattered. Like, if you borrowed $100,000 at that September 2023 mortgage rate of 7.68%, you'd be looking at roughly $711 a month just in principal and interest. Over 30 years, that adds up to over $156,000 in interest alone. The 15-year option would've been $888 monthly but you'd only pay about $60k in interest total. Way different math.

I also looked into jumbo mortgages from that period - those were running around 7.43%. Interesting how even the jumbo rates weren't that much lower despite the bigger loan amounts. The article mentioned that a 52-week range back then was between 5.63% and 9.25%, so there was definitely volatility in the market.

What really stuck with me is understanding how these rates actually get determined. The Fed's decisions and inflation were the big drivers - when the Fed raises its benchmark rate, it makes borrowing more expensive for banks, which filters down to consumers. That's why mortgage rates moved around so much in 2023.

If you were shopping for a home back then, the conventional wisdom was the same as it is now: get your credit score solid (670+), keep your debt-to-income ratio under 43%, and try to put down at least 20% to avoid PMI. Government-backed options like FHA loans were there too if you couldn't hit those benchmarks. Looking back at September 2023 mortgage rates, it's wild how much the lending landscape stays constant even when the actual rates shift around.