Refinancing question.

[momrek06]

With the mortgage rates coming down we would like to refinance.

We live in CA and own a home in MA. Our MA home is rented out.

As we started to look at refinancing we are finding the first question that banks ask; is your home "owner occupied" which it is not.

Our current rate is 5.5% but DH & I are hearing they are going much lower.

Does anyone know of any banks that we could refinance with despite the fact the house is not owner occupied?

Anyone else having this same problem? My DS has a friend that owns an apt building in Boston but he lives here in CA and he can't refinance either as he is not living in the Boston apt building.

TIA.

 

[tvguy]

Should be no problem, you just pay a higher interest rate if the house isn't owner occupied.

 

[RadioNate]

We can't get our house in FL refinanced. No one will even talk to us. It is a combo of the fact that it is a 'rental property' and that we now (we didn't before!) owe more than 80% of the assessed value.

It STINKS!

 

[Jestocost]

For an investment property, expect that financing will be difficult or impossible to find for loans representing more than 80 percent of the appraised value of the home. Rates likely will run 1.75% higher than prime rates on owner-occupied homes for low LTV investor property loans and 3.00 higher for loans with LTVs in the 75-80% range. All income, assets, etc. will need to be fully documented and you can expect credit standards to be very tight.

Rates on 30-year FRMs actually have increased slightly over the last three weeks.

 

[elgerber]

Non owner occupied homes are more difficult to refinance but not impossible. You would need good credit, and an loan to value ratio of under 75%. We refinance second homes and investment properties fairly often, you just have to meet certain requirements.

 

[sweetdana]

Agree with other party.
If you have at least 25% equity, and at least 720 credit should be fine.
Note unless you owe more than about 140K - 150K the difference of closing costs are rarely worth it on investment homes.

If your interest PM me I am a loan officer and can give you some help.

 

[dreambig1]

ask your lender if they have programs where you can pay your mortgage off in 10 -15 years... australia and canada do this and you can borrow against it if you need. great program and worth a look.