Is Refinancing The Right Choice For You
September 28th, 2009 Posted in Mortgage InfoGet this straight. A refinance is still a loan. Although you can pay off the old loan you add more years to pay off the new one, your refinance. The refinance comes with new everything - rates, terms, and loan agreement but you can make the new loan work for you and squeeze out some savings or break even just a few months shy of two years, that is if your loan is a little bit over $900,000.
The reasons most people chose to refinance are to obtain more favorable interest rates, to use the equity they have in their home, to consolidate high interest loans like credit cards, or to simply to lower the amount of their monthly mortgage payments. If your reason for seeking refinancing is lower interest rates, you may not save money with your new loan. This is especially true if you intend to remain in your house over the long term.
Lower interest rates might be tempting but if you are in the 15th year of a 30 year mortgage, you will end up the loser. All the money saved from the existing loan will go up in smoke. But if your mortgage is just eight years old and the interest rate is 2% or 1% more than the new rate, go ahead, get a refinance.
Check out every detail of the new loan which includes closing costs that is rolled into the principal balance, interest rate, years left to pay the mortgage, monthly equity building, monthly increased equity, and break even estimate. If the difference can hardly be felt, there’s no reason to get a refinance. The trick is to compare principal and monthly payments of the previous and new loans based on the number of years you are going to pay off the loan.
Your FICO score will have an impact on your ability to refinance. If the score is low, you may be unable to find a loan with a low interest rate. If it is high, you should be able to get the lowest possible interest rate. Before removing equity from your home, consider your debt to income ratio. Also consider the current value of your home. You don’t want to owe more on your loan than your home is worth.
Fees also add up the cost of the refinance. There’s the origination fee lenders require and be as high as $4000 for a $200,000 loan amount. This is to cover the cost of getting the loan processed. Another fee to pay is the closing fee that is generally 2% or 3% of the new loan.
Government programs instituted by the O’Bama administration allow for a waiver of the origination fees and closing costs in certain cases. If you lost your job because of the recession, or because you suffer from a serious medical condition, you may be eligible for a waiver of all or part of your loan fees. Since the waivers are decided on an individual case basis, each person must apply for the waiver before they receive their loan.
Until you have reviewed your financial situation and the requirements for a refinance, you can assess your chances for paying off a refinance successfully. But if you are dealing with an Adjustable Rate Mortgage and want to switch to a lower Fixed Rate Mortgage, lock into the lowest rate now after considering everything that goes into a refinance. If you’ll break even soon enough and pay lower rates which you can comfortably afford, then by all means, check this option.
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