ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates. That rate does not set mortgage rates directly, but the change can still have an impact because the cost of borrowing money is affected. 

Like so many others, Brenda Mengwasser and her husband were beaten out on several offers to buy a house in Central Florida.

“After losing out for a couple of months we got a little frustrated, and we said, ‘Well, why would we pay whatever equity we’ve built up to someone else for a home that is 20 or 30 years old? Why don’t we just use that money and go build a home?’,” she said.

When they started the process of getting approved to borrow money and build in Orange County, the rate was just over 3%. Now, mortgage rates are above 4% for the first time in years.

“That was definitely not what we were expecting to hear. You set your budget and your expectations on one thing. Having said that today 4.1% feels like a pretty good deal just based on everything we’ve heard and seen,” Mengwasser said.

She is thankful for her team at Wemert Group Realty for the guidance and for encouraging her to lock in sooner rather than later to get a good rate before they go up even more.

Use the video above to watch the complete story by Cheryn Stone.