I've locked a 4.875% interest rate on a FHA 30 yr fixed loan. The APR is at 5.519%. is this good?

One reason would be because the Upfront mortgage insurance premium (MIP) is a prepaid item and it is factored into your APR.

APR stands for annual percentage rate. This is NOT your actual rate. The government mandates lender disclose APR. Think of APR as a shopping number. APR is supposed to show you the true cost of getting the loan. It takes your actual interest rate and combines in your closing costs and mortgage insurance (if any). The idea is if you go to Lender A, and they give you a 4.875% rate, and you go to Lender B, and they give you a 4.875% rate - who has the better deal? The answer is that just the rate doesn't give you all the information you need to make a decision. You need to know each lenders closing costs too. This is what APR is supposed to tell you. Unfortunately if you shop for a mortgage loan by looking just at APR, you are almost always going to end up with a bad deal. For more information on shopping for a mortgage with APR, visit this web page: http://joemetzler.com/apr.htm

Hi Bender, A.P.R. is always higher than the interest rate as it includes pre-paid finance charges. FHA charges a 1% up front mortgage insurance premium, and a monthly mortgage insurance premium. Both of those increase the A.P.R. At your loan amount my FHA rate is 4.25% with an a.p.r. at 5.20%. We are the bank and HUD/FHA direct lender. 888-280-5577.

Your concern should not be the APR, that is a normal spread. Your actual concern should be the 4.875% rate. That is far too high for any FHA mortgage even if you had the worst credit.