Comments on: Refinancing

By: Judith

Judith — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:22:58 +0000

Just stopped by, nice blog!

By: alex parkhurst

alex parkhurst — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:33:44 +0000

I am a mortgage loan officer for Wells Fargo. I have refinanced 30 mortgages in the last two weeks from 4.50% to 4.875% on 15 and 30 year mortgages. Call a local lender and refinance. It’s a terrific Christmas present for all Americans. I have doing this for 13 years and I can’t believe how low rates are.

By: floquet

floquet — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:47:55 +0000

yes, mcg, when will jumbos come down? that’s what matters in high price areas.

By: edsel

edsel — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:59:12 +0000

they’re doing it all over again, setting up the next banking crisis, these rates leave no room for 30 years for banks to absorb interest rate hikes, its deja vu all over again.

By: Larry Patty

Larry Patty — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:19:21 +0000

I got a 4.99 fixed rate 3 years ago. I locked in just before Katrina so I’m doing fine.

By: Daniel Wiener

Daniel Wiener — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:35:20 +0000

I got a great rate four years ago with a 5/1 ARM at 4.5%. I’m looking to see how low rates go before refinancing. Ideally I’d like to switch to a 30-year fixed rate of 4.5% with little or no points or closing costs — effectively keeping my current loan rate but eliminating the risk of adjustments.

Since I’ve got excellent credit and plenty of equity, I think I may actually be able to pull it off if rates keep dropping. Also, my deadline of February 2010 to refinance before my mortgage rate adjusts is now looking like a soft deadline. Checking the LIBOR rate, an adjustment as of today would only bump my rate to 4.67%. Who knows, by next year my adjustable rate may actually go down! (Although I’d still like to lock in a low rate.)

By: Denny, Alaska

Denny, Alaska — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:31:13 +0000

I’m waiting for (don’t laugh!) 4.0%. We’re currently paying on a 4.75% loan (re-fied down from 5.5% in 2001), and I feel fairly confident that further (steep) drops are just around the bend. Things are still good here in Alaska; not many foreclosures.

By: Jackson Laurence

Jackson Laurence — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:18:10 +0000

We purchased in 2003, on a 30 year loan at 4 7/8. If rates on the 15 year go down to 4.25% or lower, I’ll seriously consider refinancing down to a 15 year mortgage, if I can roll in the HELOC and still remain at 80% or better LTV.

By: ThomasD

ThomasD — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:36:14 +0000

I’m currently in the process of a refi from 6.25 to 5.125 with 1% closing costs.

Running my number on the Mortgage Professor’s site gives me 16 months to break even so I’m going forward.

I had started the process just prior to the lastest cut so the final rate may actually be under 5%.

With so many shoes seemingly waiting to drop I’m not going to hesitate any longer.

By: Mama73

Mama73 — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:14:54 +0000

I’ve heard its worth refinancing if rates drop to 1% less than what you’re at currently.

Crossing my fingers and hoping for 4.5%.

Hey, interestingly, because they’re toughening up on lending standards rental rates in our area (Chicago) have been going up. We might be able to rent our current place and buy another one. (Woo-hoo!)

By: mcg

mcg — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:39:16 +0000

The premium on jumbo mortgages is HUGE right now. Very unusual, but it means there aren’t going to be many jumbo refi’s until that imbalance settles. I’ve got a pretty good ARM so I’m not concerned but it would have been nice to jump to a fixed if the rates were there.

By: Paul A'Barge

Paul A'Barge — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:36:38 +0000

Refinancing: yes.

Trying to get better than a 5% annual ARM. Here’s hoping.

Capital Farm Credit quoted 6.5% on a 10 year ARM last week.

Someone’s on drugs.

By: Mary

Mary — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:08:17 +0000

PMI should end when your principal balances reaches the agree % of your purchase price for the house.

Using your number on a $100,000 purchase price for the house, PMI should end when your principal balance is $78,000.

By: rdon

rdon — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:11:05 +0000

yes am in the early part of a 60 day process to refi and just floated it down from their initial offer of 5.375% to 4.75% based on the new drop by the fed. I had had one of those nasty loans that was running at 7 up to 9% that i had wamu convert to fixed 6.5% back last may. So this be one person who cleaned up his own nasty loan… and without a bailout mind you. If rates go lower, i expect them to bottom before end of january… and will float to whatever bottom rate i can get.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:59:04 +0000

My rate is 6.0% (got it in late 2002), and the best rate I’ve seen advertised for a refinance is something like 5.2%. That’s not worth the hassle and the closing costs, as far as I can tell. If I could manage to refinance at less than 5%, and get rid of PMI in the process, I’d probably think about it. But I’m scheduled to be rid of PMI in about a year, anyway, so the $450 or so that I’d save on that is probably outweighed by the closing costs anyway.

Speaking of PMI, anybody know what the terms for getting rid of it usually are? Is it a principal balance 78% of original loan value, or of originally appraised value, or of current appraised value?

By: Linoge

Linoge — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:45:28 +0000

Better Half and I may be buying/building in the next six months… does that count?

By: karrde

karrde — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:44:52 +0000

Kind of hard to refi when I don’t own a house.

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:07:10 +0000

No, but only because it’s paid-off. We might buy another one for rental income though.

By: Les

Les — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:10:42 +0000

The answer depends on what your current interest rate is, and how long you plan on staying at your current residence. Refinance charges are typically a couple thousand bucks. Each person has to ask themselves if the savings in interest charges is enough to cover cost of refinancing.

We refinanced to a 15 year mortgage three years ago at 5.75% so we’re pretty happy, and we plan to move in the the next few years, so for us it doesn’t make sense to refinance.

By: drstrangegun

drstrangegun — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:57:18 +0000

My mortgage rate is already low enough not to bother with, but I did sleep at a Holiday… uh, I did get a HELOC at a sweet rate to do some home improving with. And I’ve already spent 3/4 of it buying a metal roof that should outlast us all

By: GrumpyUnk

GrumpyUnk — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:51:14 +0000

Refinanced early this year. Rates would have to drop quite a bit. I’d be in for dropping the length of the note to 15 year if rates got low enough.

By: thirdpower

thirdpower — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:38:46 +0000

Paid off. No need to worry about it.

By: Hartley

Hartley — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:53:29 +0000

We paid our home off 2 years ago..woo-hoo! Now if only the market would recover so we can sell it, retire and go cruisin’

By: countertop

countertop — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:42:21 +0000

Not refinancing, already have a 5% fixed rate loan on a 30 year mortgage and don’t think I can do better than that.

I did go and grab a loan at 4% to do some much needed renovations on my house. And yes, they are paying me to borrow money – I didn’t need the cash right away so its sitting in a 4.5% 6 month CD at the same bank.

By: Weer'd Beard

Weer'd Beard — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:39:23 +0000

We bought our place in February when the numbers were about as low as they could go. Not much to save right now.