Mortgage refinancing

[gridfaniker]

Anyone out there do it? My wife and I just did ours and our rate went from 8.5 to 5.5. We were able to borrow an additional $8K for some remodeling, had our term cut by about two years and we're paying about the same per month.

Economic crises rule!

[builder]

I hope that interest rates remain this low for another year. I should be able to drop about 2 points myself and lower my payment by $200 or more.

[gridfaniker]

Originally posted by builder
I hope that interest rates remain this low for another year. I should be able to drop about 2 points myself and lower my payment by $200 or more.

can't you do it now? My bank let us add the refinancing charges into our new mortgage. All we had to pay was a $300 application fee. You wait too long they may go back up.

[DaveW]

Originally posted by gridfaniker
Anyone out there do it? My wife and I just did ours and our rate went from 8.5 to 5.5. We were able to borrow an additional $8K for some remodeling, had our term cut by about two years and we're paying about the same per month.

Economic crises rule!



geat..maybe you will buy a real tv and cooler for that basement.

[builder]

Originally posted by gridfaniker


can't you do it now? My bank let us add the refinancing charges into our new mortgage. All we had to pay was a $300 application fee. You wait too long they may go back up.

I haven't even written my first mortgage payment check yet. I have to make 13 of them first.

[gridfaniker]

Originally posted by DaveW




geat..maybe you will buy a real tv and cooler for that basement.

By a real TV do you mean a projection? No thanks. I like to be able to see the picture without having to look at it straight on. I think the 36-inch Wega is sufficient.

Speaking of which, it turns out that deal I can get on the Sony at cost only applies if I pick it up, at a warehouse just outside of Boston. Otherwise, I pay $250 in shipping. So it looks like I'll be roadtripping to Mass. some day soon. I can get the set I want ($1,299 at Best Buy) for $800, plus 5 percent tax.

[gridfaniker]

Originally posted by builder


I haven't even written my first mortgage payment check yet. I have to make 13 of them first.

You have to make 13 payments before you can refinance? Why? I'd go to another bank and let them pay it off and borrow at a lower rate. What is there, some kind of early termination fee?

[builder]

Originally posted by gridfaniker
What is there, some kind of early termination fee?

That's what my realtor told me. It's a part of my credit building crap. Let's just say, in any other time, I'da never been able to purchase this place because of those three bureaus.

[Farmer]

I'm actually going to refinance fairly soon myself - I have already done it once - and lowered my rate some - It could actually come down a bit more now... I have exceptional credit so I didn't realize how easy it was - but my last mortgage broker royally screwed me in closing costs (long story) but - -

I plan on adding an addition to my home - actually it will basically increase the square footage by 100 percent. I'll borrow the money to do the addition (a lot of which I will be doing myself) and then refinance my mortgage after a new (and no doubt higher) appraisal to pay the borrowed money back. But I gotta hurry... times a wastin....

[hasbeen99]

We just re-fi'd and went from 7.5% to 6.0%. We knocked about $200.00 off our monthly mortgage payment and got a $26,000 line of credit to draw from. We got adoption fees and some pretty big home improvement projects to do.

[Shrapnel]

My trailer actually went down in value since I first bought it. But in just 257 more payments and it's all mine.

[Superfluous_Nut]

i need to look at a refi. i've got a 7 3/8 loan with about 9 years left. i'm affraid that i can knock the payments down, but restarting the clock isn't always so great.

for those that have, are you putting in principal at the same rate as before? like, the $200 or whatever you're not paying each month, is that $200 less in interest payments or $200 less in principal?

[gridfaniker]

Originally posted by Superfluous_Nut
i need to look at a refi. i've got a 7 3/8 loan with about 9 years left. i'm affraid that i can knock the payments down, but restarting the clock isn't always so great.

for those that have, are you putting in principal at the same rate as before? like, the $200 or whatever you're not paying each month, is that $200 less in interest payments or $200 less in principal?

I'm not sure, but I think the banks want you to finance in five-year increments, meaning you could either refinance for a 10-year or 5-year term. 10 wouldn't be so bad.

[Shrapnel]

Originally posted by Superfluous_Nut


for those that have, are you putting in principal at the same rate as before? like, the $200 or whatever you're not paying each month, is that $200 less in interest payments or $200 less in principal?

If you're not extending the term any, the difference in payments is all interest.

:(

[barracuda]

I am just in the process getting my first house mortgage for 4.5 fixed for 5 years then variable for the remainder of 25 years. I'm not up on all the terms yet but I believe the variable won't be over 5.5 - 6%. It will cost me to lock in but I think it will be worth it.

[vpkozel]

We got a 5/1 ARM at 4.25%. We don't plan on being inn our house for more than 5 years, so I didn't want to go for the 30 year, which was 5.375%.

[Superfluous_Nut]

Originally posted by Shrapnel


If you're not extending the term any, the difference in payments is all interest.

:(

home loans are different from normal loans in that they are weighted to pay more interest at the beginning and less at the end. if i don't extend the time frame, will i still be paying principal at the same rate i am now?

[Patti]

If you are paying a lower monthly payment, just keep paying the same monthly amount you use to and 100% of that will be toward the principal and will knock a considerable amount off the length of your loan.

My brother refinanced not long ago and took the option of paying twice a month. ( He gets paid twice a month ) And I honestly don't remember how much he told me saved by paying twice monthly but I remember being shocked.

[Shrapnel]

Originally posted by Superfluous_Nut


home loans are different from normal loans in that they are weighted to pay more interest at the beginning and less at the end. if i don't extend the time frame, will i still be paying principal at the same rate i am now?

No, home loans are the same as a car loan or whatever, just simple interest loans. You pay interest on the principal you have outstanding. As the principal decreases, the amount of interest accrued decreases, thus you pay more toward principal.

Think about it...if you have a balance of $100,000 at 8% for 10 years and your payment is $1213/mo. If you refi. for a rate of 5.5% and keep the term at 10 years, your payment goes down to $1085/mo. You are still paying off the $100,000 principal in 10 years, so the difference in payment is all interest.

[Fred]

I am in the process now (as soon as I can get the appraisal done.) My interest rate is dropping almost 2% down to 5.75%. I am getting 10K back (paying off everything except the car and the house) and reducing my house payment by 12 bucks a month. I hear the rates are about to go up again.

[kshead]

Originally posted by Fred
I hear the rates are about to go up again.

You may have heard wrong though. Saw in a newspaper today (USATODAY?, Wash Post?) that the Fed is considering another half-point cut. Just wanted to throw that out there.

[gridfaniker]

For a nominal fee, my bank automatically adjust my rates when they go down. another half-point you say, cool.

[Fred]

The guy that is doing my refinancing says it is about to go up because of the war. Oh well, i'm locked in anyway.