Did you refinance?

[adamak]

I found the process daunting. I tried to refinance through our current agent, but they're so busy, they're not even returning my calls. Not to mention, I don't know how much longer I will be staying at my place, and don't know how much the closing cost will be (or if it's all worth it).

I just signed up at LendingTree.com. I really wonder how reliable those firms are. Anyone has experience?

 

[Lisa L from MI]

I really can't answer your question. But, yes we are refinancing and close tomorrow in fact! We did it through our current mortgage lender and it was super easy and fast. Most of it was over the phone...and only a package they mailed to us and we had to sign and mail it back. We ended up with 5.75 which is much better than the current 7.25...so we should be saving a little over 150 a month. The only thing we had to pay was 100.00 processing fee.
Good luck!!

 

[ByTheSea]

We close next week at 5.25! We refinanced a couple of years ago at 7.25. Our next door neighbor is our mortgage broker and he waived his fee's for us this time ( we must remember to get him a gift or something) but it was very easy.

 

[janette]

Just started, going to 5% and 15yrs. I used lendingtree.com when we bought the house 1 1/2 yr ago. None of the other lenders I got quotes from matched the rate. I signed up on lendingtree.com again last week for the refinance, the same company didn't send an offer so I emailed the person I worked with last time. His offer was better than all but one from lendingtree.com and I wasn't as comfortable with that one so I'm using them again.

The papers are daunting but I'm trying to force myself through it.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Next Thurs 3/13 at 3:30pm sitting down with the lawyer and signing the papers.

Going from 7.25 to 5.375 -- cutting off 6yrs by going from 30yr to 15yr (already paid 9yrs)

 

[goofy4tink]

We're in the middle of the process. Going from 7.25 to 5.5. And from 30 yrs. to 20.

 

[believe]

We refinanced a couple weeks ago. It was a very easy process, mostly over the phone and then they came to my work to finalize. We got 5.25% at 15yrs. I went with a mortgage company, my bank and I didn't agree on some of the charges and the way they wanted to modify.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Nothing daunting about it. Refinanced in December (should have waited a little longer but oh well still saving lots of $$$$). Didn't cost us a thing (our broker is so great) except for a new appraisal. Walked out of closing with a check from the mortgage company!!!! Of course I did a stream-lined refi so it was easier than some.

 

[CyranoJones]

We refinanced our home some years ago. We bought our house when interest rates were very high, in the teens. We got an ARM with a cap (high and low) which meant even if the ARM went as high as it could it still wouldn't reach our original interest rate. We were lucky in that interest rates have done nothing but drop since we refinanced. Received a letter a week ago stating that our rate had dropped to 5%. It can't go any lower than that but I'm not complaining. Plus we only have about 3 years left on our mortgage.

 

[seashoreCM]

Lots of refinancing scams out there.

Some of the worst, the baddest scams have you sign papers and a month later you get an eviction notice because they say you actually sold away your house.

Experts still recommend your engaging an attorney who knows real estate before signing anything.

More scams:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/scam.htm

 

[grinningghost]

We refinanced through our current mortgage company. It was well worth it. We knocked 10 years off our mortgage and will save $55,000.

 

[danicaw]

We refinanced a few months back - dropped out rate and went down to a 15 year.

We used eloan.com and I have mixed feelings about the process.
Our issues arent so much with eloan as the contract vendors they used.
The appraiser they used wrote up some moss on the side of our house as damage. We live in Seattle and its damp here - moss is a common thing. The process was then hung up for a month while we tried to convince them it wasn't damage. We ended up having to repaint the house. And of course when it was pressure washed before painting all the moss came off. Now we know - pressure wash before appraisal. This is our frist home so maybe we are a bit green. Anyway repainting in December in Seattle isn't the most common thing to do. The house looks great now, by the way, but it was an unexpected expense right before the holidays. To add to it the appriaser charged us a second time to come back out and look at the paint job, after we had been told it was included in the original cost.
The second issue was with the (forgive me I can't remember what this is called for the life of me) company who actually goes over the final paperwork and signs it as you do.
The guy called us the day before the last day we could sign and said - we have to do this tomorrow or it doesn't happen. Which ment both hubby and I had to rearrange our work schedules with no notice. Our eloan agent had told us several days ahead of time that someone would be contacting us to set up a time to go over stuff. Then the guy waits until the last day? We were a bit frustrated by that. But were happy that after only a two month process we had a new loan.
In a survey eloan sent us afterwards we mentioned all our concerns and I emailed our agent about the deal with the appraiser.

In the end we are pleased with the specifics of the loan and its done. But it was a bit daunting.

 

[ToyStory Fan]

The only thing to worry about when doing the refinance is that the rate is competitive. Given the choice to refinance with same bank for a slightly higher rate or different bank for a slightly lower rate you need to consider a few things:

how much of your exisiting documentation (that your current bank has) will you need to pay for again...new bank will most certainly mean all of it . surveys, title searches etc. Also, in NY anyway, if you change mortgage companies/banks you HAVE to pay a mortgage transfer tax (not an insignificant amount).

Another thing to consider while you are doing this is to have the bank you re-fi with, set up a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) Costs you nothing and gives you some financial flexibility. Most are available at prime or prime -1/4% for life.

 

[olena]

We're closing on our new loan on Monday.

 

[adamak]

*sigh*

We just bought last year, and we've 2 loans. I think I'm going to give up. I still cannot roll them into 1. Situation is not simple. Either closing cost too high, or rate not low enough.

I signed up in LendingTree, got 2 offers. Then I searched on BBB for their ratings, and search online for others reviews of the companies. Both were rated really bad ! (Close to being a scam). Now I'm very scared to use them.

One thing I definitely want the "society" to change : we NEED to get more of those mortgage firms' reviewed by regular folks. So far I have only seen eBusinessRate, and Epionion. I need to have a mortgage board like DIS. (But then, I need a DIS-equivalent board for everything else in my life).

 

[Deb in IA]

We locked in this past weekend at 5.37%, which, over 30 years, will save us $4000 A YEAR!!!

We have refinanced AT LEAST 5 TIMES over the years. We have always gone through our local bank. Our first mortage, in 1991, was about 10.5%!! With our current rate, we figure we have saved about $500,000 over 30 years.


adamak, I urge you to do the math. I think you'll find that you really can't afford to NOT refinance.