Refinancing -- Rates Seem To Be Going Down Again

[disneygals]

www.hsh.com has great calculators. The payment and amortization calculator is great for comparing pre-pay vs refi. It will show interest/principal amounts per year.

We had sporadically prepaid our 30 year and after figuring out interest already paid, etc we refinanced to a 10 year in 2002. The rates were finally low enough that we still saved some vs pre-paying.

We are close to paying it off, but now it's mostly principal so the interest isn't helping our taxes as much.

 

[momsavealot]

We locked in with Wells Fargo (currently with them) for 4.5 with 1 point, but it is a cash out refi. You have to be aware when viewing threads like these that there are many variables involved. Your rate/point combo depends on whether it's a straight or cash out refi, the amt. of your loan, y;our credit score, the value of your home, etc. Rates may go down further but I didn't want to wait until the lenders were so busy that I couldn't get someone to actually do my refi. Each broker has only so many they can handle at one time. And, the numbers of those refinancing are increasing like crazy. Good luck!

 

[DawnM]

Please share.

DH said he read they will probably go down to 4%, but 3.87 is great.

How many years? 15, 20, 30 ????
Closing costs???

Thanks,

Dawn

We got 3.87% with WaMu last week.

 

[left210]

We got 3.87% with WaMu last week.

Yes please give us more info on your loan. I havent seen rates that low anywhere.

 

[HM]

We locked in at 4.875 in December, closing on Jan 20. For a couple days it did go lower than that, but we missed out. Our current loan is 6%.

Good luck to anyone refinancing!

 

[kellyg403]

I agree with the other posts about Countrywide. DH says they could save millions a year in postage, paper and phone calls alone. They are constantly sending us mailings and emails. In the last few months they have started the calling. DH finally told the one guy he would let them know if he was interested in anything.

Would love to refinance but I think we will have to wait a bit longer.

Kelly

 

[tavettava]

Please share.

DH said he read they will probably go down to 4%, but 3.87 is great.

How many years? 15, 20, 30 ????
Closing costs???

Thanks,

Dawn

Ok so I was wrong it is with Amtrust bank (used to be Ohio bank). I know I should be more up on these things , when we refinanced I didn't know we stayed with the same mortgage company. It is 15 yr. and I have to ask dh what the closing costs were. We had 15 years left on our old mortgage at 6.5%, so this saves about $300+ a month. Dh says we may just keep paying the old payments and have the new one paid off quicker.

 

[JamesMom]

Just got off the phone with mortgage guy - can give us 4.5% on 15 year note with ~4K closing costs & ~1K prepaids on streamline FHA refinance (limited paperwork). Next month we will make our 72nd payment on current 30 year note at 6.25% FHA.
Our payment will increase by $140 a month (closing cost rolled-in) and cut 9 years off our current mortgage.
Good deal?
We are in the process of buying BLT, but might back out and go with this refinance instead.
Help me be an adult

 

[chris1gill]

Just got off the phone with mortgage guy - can give us 4.5% on 15 year note with ~4K closing costs & ~1K prepaids on streamline FHA refinance (limited paperwork). Next month we will make our 72nd payment on current 30 year note at 6.25% FHA.
Our payment will increase by $140 a month (closing cost rolled-in) and cut 9 years off our current mortgage.
Good deal?
We are in the process of buying BLT, but might back out and go with this refinance instead.
Help me be an adult

I would do the math on this one. What if you pay your current payment bi-weekly, that will cut the same 9 years off, or close to it. I think 5K for closing costs is an awful lot of money, but I don't know what your monthly mortgage is, so it's hard to say if this is a good deal, or if just paying bi-weekly would be the best bet.

 

[JamesMom]

I would do the math on this one. What if you pay your current payment bi-weekly, that will cut the same 9 years off, or close to it. I think 5K for closing costs is an awful lot of money, but I don't know what your monthly mortgage is, so it's hard to say if this is a good deal, or if just paying bi-weekly would be the best bet.

Thanks - didn't think of the bi-payment thing - ran it through a calculator:

Current Annual Payment: 9444 - life of loan: $226,600 (remainder - 24 years)
Bimonthly payment (as is): 10231 - eliminates ~45 payments (~4 yrs)- life of loan: $201,000 save $25K over current

15 yr Annual Payment: 11532 - life of loan 15 years : $173,000, save $53K over current/$28K over biMonthly

annual BiMonthly with +$50 per payment: 11531 (same as 15yr btw) - life of loan ~16.3 years (according to website calc) : $188,000, save $38K over current/ $13K over reg biMonthly/ Costs $15K MORE than 15 yr.

Think the 15yr note still looks good

Remember I'm doing an FHA refinance so it has more fees than other loans but even convential loans I'd looked at online had $3-5K in costs, points, etc.

 

[TheRatPack]

We were at 6.375 but locked Monday at 5%. While I did think they would go lower sooner or later....the payment at 5% compared to a payment at 4.5% was 20 or so dollars a month...plus we're refinancing to a 15 from a 30, and getting out of our PMI as well since our house appraised for more (bathroom renovations). We'll probably make the bimonthly payments to shorten that even more....so again, the 20.00 a month gamble just wasn't worth it for us, we're good with 5

 

[TheRatPack]

oh and our cost for the refi were about 3500.....a little on the high side but again, we're here to stay and so the cost even out with what we're saving dropping 15 years off of it.