According to my sources in the mortgage business, 30 year fixed rate conforming home loans are back down to 4.50%. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, these rates came and went very fast in early January. Not everybody was able to take advantage of the great pricing at the time.
Although one change in the past few months is that lenders now usually want at least a point to get the best rate. In the past few years, zero point loans (par loans) were very popular and priced competitively. Now to get the best deal sometimes requires paying points upfront. That being said, if you have excellent credit and substantial equity left in your home you may even find rates below 4.50%. If you plan on keeping your house and/or loan awhile it seems well worth paying some points to get money at these historically low rates.
We have a loan comparison calculator to help at https://www.moneycafe.com/content/articles/18/1/Loan-Comparison-Calculator/Page1.html. We also have a refinancing analysis calculator at https://www.moneycafe.com/content/articles/16/1/Refinancing-Analysis/Page1.html.
Chase, Wells Fargo and Wachovia are some of the lenders whose rates have dropped in the past couple of days. You may want to see what LendingTree has to offer because their service is free and their system fosters competition amongst lenders.