Refinancing ?s

[connie254]

Going to take the plunge and refinance the mortgage. The person I talked to said several things which I need opinions on.

Any money I have in escrow with old mortgage would be refunded to me(the property taxes will be taken out on Feb 1, so I am thinking what is best scenarion, and taxes aren't actually due until March)

I would have one month w/o a mortgage payment(I don't want to skip a payment and end up paying more interest over the mortgage length so I will make the payment)

They would have me put money upfront for appraisal and get reimbursed when I close(does this seem right?). Closing costs would be rolled into loan. Would I be able to see the appraisal for myself?

How would I notify the old mortgage company, homeowners insurance company, etc and how long would it take to close once everything is done?

 

[starry_solo]

Whichever company you choose should have the answers to your questions, but here goes.

1. You will be able to see the appraisal. The appraisal is to make sure the house is worth the price of the new loan.

2. Your old mortgage company will provide a payoff amount to the new mortgage company. The reason why you won't have to pay a month is because you'll have actually pre-paid one month's payment in the final closing costs (including interest).

3. Property taxes will be paid off at the time of the re-finance/closing paperwork. The mortgage company doesn't want those taxes to become delinquent. So make sure that you are diligent in getting a refund of any excess amounts.

4. Closing costs can be rolled into the loan. You have to decide whether it is worth paying that much "extra" in interest to have it rolled into the loan versus paying it up front.

I think that's it.

 

[leebee]

We refinanced and are now saving $450 a month with the new mortgage!

We paid closing costs by check, which we will recover in <9 months.
New company settled everything with old company, as well as the insurance company, so we didn't have to do any of the "leg" work.
Old company sent us a settlement statement and a check for the balance in our escrow account.
We were charged for the appraisal at closing, but the guy who did it sent the report to both us and the new mortgage people.

We are very happy that we refinanced. Our house held its value, so we didn't have to start paying PMI (we weren't paying it with the old mortgage; we had an 80/15 mortgage... actually two mortgages); the change in interest rate resulted in the "extra" money, which is going into the savings every month so we can pay college tuition next fall!