Upod, this market is going to be volatile for a while until the feds cuts and future cuts start working into the system.  I heard 30year mortgage is at 5.85% so I believe the cuts are starting to work, but we need more cuts to be out of the red zone.

My home loan is also currently with Countrywide.   In fact,  I wound up being very very lucky in the context of the current housing meltdown.    My ex-wife and I wound up purchasing a beautiful home together about five years ago.   A year later we were divorced.   Rather than sell, I decided I wanted to keep the house which was fine with my ex-wife ( since we wouldn't be able to sell for a profit ).   I've always had excellent credit,  but in order to keep the house on just a single income,  I had to refinance on a 3 year arm at 4.75 percent.   I always kept in the back of my mind that I would have to refinance on different terms before the ARM resets,  but I wasn't planning on doing so until the last minute ( which would have been this past May ).    Luckily,  my mortage broker ( also a friend of mine ),  called me in October 2006 - literally right before the whole credit and housing situation blew up - and got me refinanced into a 30 year fixed conventional with Countrywide at a very very decent rate ( my house payment stayed the same in fact ).   If things didn't work out the way they did,  my interest rate would have jumped up to 7% and my house payment would have increased around $300 a month.   It's going to be interesting to see what happens over the next several years as all these ARMs reset - especially with banks tightening their lending standards,  refinancing isn't as easy as it was in the past.