Refinancing Your Home?

[Carey Frennier]

I'm thinking of refinancing my home. We got a decent deal with the first time buyer program with a 5% fixed FHA rate. We also have a home equity loan for our massive, total gut renovation and that is at 6% fixed for 15 years.



I'm thinking we could get a 3-4% and save a few hundred dollars a month and/or reduce our term to 15 years.



Where do you guys think I could get the best rate (A1 credit) and the lowest points and closing costs?

 

[Richard L]

I don't know of specific mortgage companies, but there are plenty out there willing to refinance.



I refinanced my old home about 3 times over the years. The last time I had 18 years left on the old mortgage and refinanced down to a 15 years which saved me about $25K plus my payments went down by about $150 per month. Of course, as taxes kept going up that increased my mortgage payment back up to what it originally was, but without the refinance it would have been much higher. I paid off the old house about 2 years ago. when I bought my new house. I still had about 4 years left on the old mortgage so that saved me a nice chunk of money too.



I continually get about 2 offers a week in the mail to refinance under this new VA refinance option, but all the offers are not worth it. I got a good interest rate when I bought the new house and even the best refinance would only save me about $30, and I would be throwing adding another 2 years to the terms of my mortgage.



...Rich

 

[chargedtrac]

Why not start at your current or local bank where you have your existing home loans? Credit Unions might be competitive also. My credit union was, and closing costs were nominal, plus the NYS mortgage recording tax.



Check your current loans to be sure there is no closing cost pay back if they are not very old if you were to refinance now. That can happen if a bank absorbed most of the standard closing costs on the last loan and you decide to refinance again within a certain period of time (ie. 3 years). Basically glancing at your current loan documents fine print, to rule out there might be something like that to have to consider.



Otherwise, for rate compares on refinancing there are several sources including bankrate.com, erate.com.



Unless somebody on this forum is a mortgage broker, I'd think you'll just have to get busy making calls and inquiries, and do some homework on other things to consider (besides rate, points, closing costs). Hopefully loan to value won't be an issue, especially in today's economy. Some banks these days might not loan more than 70% LTV for a preferred rate... I use to create a spreadsheet when I was in the refinancing mode to keep the key info straight and compare.



Don't know if you noticed a few sites out there with articles on rules of thumb for refinancing, and refinancing calculators...

http://www.mortgage101.com/refinance-calculator



I wish you the best on this. Rates are definitely the lowest they have been in some time.

 

[Bill V]

When I was looking into refinancing a year or two ago, a mortgage broker friend told me that often, the best bet is to simply talk to your current mortgage holder. Because you're already "in their system", they can sometimes do the refi in a way which results in far lower closing costs--and if their rate is competitive, will thus end up being the best all-around total package for your in the long run.



Can't say for certain that this is the case, but seeing that this advice was basically telling me to NOT become a customer of his, thus potentially costing him business, it seemed valid from the standpoint of him not having an ulterior motive.



This conversation reminds me--I need to check rates and look into this again...

 

[Andy Chase]

I've been wanting to do the same, we got down payment assistance from the county we live in and they were telling my wife that we'd have to pay it back if we refinance. I found my mortgage documetns and it doesn't say I have to. We were told to ask about a "Make Home Affordable" refinance program as it has little to no closing costs with our current lender so you may want to ask about that. I'm going to set up an appointment for next week.

 

[Robert Caffyn]

I think 15year-fixed are in the 3's right now(3.5-3.75 or so) 30year-fixed is gonna put you in the low to mid 4's. The rule I've been told, is if you can reduce your percentage by one or more %, do it! Did mine last year, 4.5%, 30year, took an extra $100k to do the kitchen and some other things. Worth it. Bob

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Look at Wells Fargo, when everyone else was loading up on sub-prime they went out and refi'ed as many A1 credit, responsible, high-in-equity home buyers. Then, when the bubble burst and other banks went under, Wells Fargo took their good position and bought up all the losers. Smart, responsible, and they have an EXCELLENT refi program. Only cost us $6 for notary fess to refi almost 8 years ago with WF, no points, nothing rolled into the loan, nothing else..not even appraiser fees as our appraisal was current.