Just been looking back at how crazy mortgage rates got back in late 2022. I remember November was pretty rough - the 30-year fixed had climbed to 7.36%, up from 7.27% the week before. Wild to think about how fast things were moving back then.

What struck me was the gap between the 30-year and 15-year options. You could get a 15-year fixed at 6.44%, which was noticeably lower, but obviously your monthly payment would be way higher. On a $100k loan, you're looking at $868/month versus $690/month for the 30-year. That's the tradeoff - pay it off faster or keep monthly costs down.

For jumbo mortgages, rates were sitting at 7.37% for 30-year fixed. Someone with a $750k jumbo mortgage would be paying around $5,183 monthly in principal and interest alone. The total interest over the life of that loan was hitting over $1.1 million.

What was interesting about November 2022 was that rates had already jumped massively that year - started around 3.22% back in January and kept climbing. The 52-week range showed lows of 5.90% and highs of 7.41%, so volatility was definitely there. There was also the 5/1 ARM option floating around at 5.57%, which some people were considering as an alternative.

Looking at the APR figures alongside the base rates really showed the full picture of what borrowers were actually paying - the APR on that 30-year fixed was 7.37%, slightly higher than the advertised rate when you factor in lender fees. That's the number that actually matters when comparing offers.