Three weeks ago, rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage bottomed out at 5.175 percent. Then the window, open for no more than a day, slammed shut, and the rates have since shot up, briefly touching 6.25 percent on Thursday, according to Lou Barnes, principal of Boulder West Financial Services. The mortgage itself is made by a bank, a savings and loan association, a mortgage company, a credit union, or any other lender. For it to become an FHA mortgage loan, the lender would have to be approved by the Federal Housing Administration.
