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Refinancing?

The wife and I are looking into this at the end of this week.
 
So I don't cloud this thread with my specifics, anyone with a significant understanding of this be able to PM me for breakdown and discussion? Got my first quote and while helpful in terms of lowering my rate and monthly payment, my new principal is much higher (1.7 pts :mad:), and I guess the fees rolled into it..

TIA!
 
greekelite said:
With the Fed dropping 50 basis points off the current rates theres a lot of talk about refinancing, rates seeming 3.5-3.75%

I learned that my loan type (USDA) I can refi, but has to be 12 months (April 16th will be our 12 months since closing), so I may look to get the ball rolling. I'm currently at 4.5%. I wouldnt take out any equity (not really much in it, other than the appraisal valuing it more than what my balance is), just looking to lower my payments

Anyone else looking to refinance? Or even have experience having done that for those of us who are newbs?

Any info is appreciated!!
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Just be prepared to have to close it all over again which usually means paying a couple grand in closing costs. Also, they normally like to try and get you to go back to a 30 year loan even if you have been paying on it for 10 years. That makes it look like they are saving you a ton more money per month then they really are.
 
When refinancing, you should always look (and ask for) your break-even point. If you're going to be in the house past that point, it makes sense to refi.
 
My wife mentioned about the rates dropping, we are somewhat low at 3.625 now, but if it drops to 3.25% or 3% we would likely look into it a bit harder. Maybe even take some equity out at same time and get some stuff done on the house and pay some student loans off completely. We would also get into a 15 year at that point too.
 
I called our credit union Tuesday to see if there was anything they could do on our 5/1 mortgage that we took out in December of 2017. They have a reset option where the only fees are $950 so today I’m locking in a 5/1 ARM at only 2.5%. Our current mortgage is at 3.375% so our monthly payment will drop quite a bit making the break even point on the $950 fee only 3 months, after that, we have a payment that is $310 lower.

For some perspective, when we bought our first house in 1995 our interest rate was 9% so these current rates seem impossibly low by comparison.
 
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Yesterday I was quoted 3% on a 30 year fixed rate,getting 1% of the loan amount back toward closing cost. I could also go 2 7/8% and pay the closing cost plus a .5% point. I was a little concerned rates may not have quite bottomed, but if they go down before I close we can float it down.


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Congratulations on the reset! Never hurts to make those calls!

For some perspective, when we bought our first house in 1995 our interest rate was 9% so these current rates seem impossibly low by comparison.
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We moved into our current home in 1984 when I relocated for a new job. We took a risk on an ARM at 11% with a 15.5% lifetime cap and a 2% annual adjustment cap. We thought we stole it because conventional fixed rate mortgages were 14.5%, but those first few years of checks were plenty painful. Our rate was never higher than 11% and for he last 4-5 years we were under 2.5%. We looked at refinancing multiple times but the numbers never worked out. So we had an ARM for 30 years - something I never would have predicted.
 
tahoebum said:
I called our credit union Tuesday to see if there was anything they could do on our 5/1 mortgage that we took out in December of 2017. They have a reset option where the only fees are $950 so today I’m locking in a 5/1 ARM at only 2.5%. Our current mortgage is at 3.375% so our monthly payment will drop quite a bit making the break even point only 3 months.

For some perspective, when we bought our first house in 1995 our interest rate was 9% so these current rates seem impossibly low by comparison.
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In the early 90's the interest rates in the UK hit 15%, so imagine how it seems for us now when we are sitting around 3%

We are in the process of re-mortgaging our house for the extension and have taken a 10 year deal, with 5 years fixed at something like 2.94% if I remember right, with the added bonus that we can pay up to 10% of the outstanding balance every year during the fixed rate period if we wanted to pay it off sooner
If we can manage it without any problems, I hope to save the equivalent of my car payment once it is finished in a couple years, and then pay off a lump sum at the end of the fixed rate which should then mean we can look for a new deal for an even smaller amount, or continue to pay the same monthly payment and considerably shorten the time until we become completely debt free
 
DNice26 said:
Been looking at this myself! You guys are now getting me fired up to make it happen.

Only concern is, wife keeps talking about moving. If I'm not mistaken, refinancing is only a good idea if you plan to stay in the house for 5 years or more, correct?
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Not really it depends on the math. If you are going from a 6% loan to a 3% loan it might only take a year to make it worthwhile.
 
BigTex said:
Yesterday I was quoted 3% on a 30 year fixed rate,getting 1% of the loan amount back toward closing cost. I could also go 2 7/8% and pay the closing cost plus a .5% point. I was a little concerned rates may not have quite bottomed, but if they go down before I close we can float it down.


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Not bad at all. The 1% back is pretty nice, but with closing costs in Texas being so high, that 1% will really only pay a small portion of them. (y)
 
vdubtx said:
Not bad at all. The 1% back is pretty nice, but with closing costs in Texas being so high, that 1% will really only pay a small portion of them. (y)
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It would cover all but about $1200 of the closing cost, not including the escrow amounts. But I have to pay those anyway, and you get back the amount you have in your existing escrow account. So basically that is a net zero. But yeah, closing cost are way higher than they should be, especially on lower loan amounts. It doesn’t cost appreciably more in cost to refi an $800,000 loan than it does a $200,000 one. Mostly just the difference in the title policy increase. As a percentage of the loan amount it is huge though.


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I'm leaning towards lowering my 30 year to a 20 year - going from a 4.5% to around 3.5% in the process. My Rocketmortgage guy told me I would save around $38,000 over the life of the mortgage. Just about $80 more a month seems like a really good deal to me.

I have grown tired of the communists running this city though so I don't know how much longer I will want to put up with their s---. My city teachers actually went on strike today.

Life is a trip. You just never know what kind of curveball will be tossed your way...
 
We just closed on our refinance. Had remote title come to our house.

No costs besides escrow roll which a credit will be coming. No appraisal and all fees waived. Could have dropped below 3 for 1 point and fee but happy with 3.25 as now there is no recoup time frame and drop in monthly payment is good. Not staying here long term and starting over just 2.5 into it was no big deal.

Plus we don't have payment until May.

All in all happy and good timing with what is going on now.
 
J4U said:
We just closed on our refinance. Had remote title come to our house.

No costs besides escrow roll which a credit will be coming. No appraisal and all fees waived. Could have dropped below 3 for 1 point and fee but happy with 3.25 as now there is no recoup time frame and drop in monthly payment is good. Not staying here long term and starting over just 2.5 into it was no big deal.

Plus we don't have payment until May.

All in all happy and good timing with what is going on now.
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Who ya end up going w/ Doug?
 
Nate said:
Who ya end up going w/ Doug?
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Same company that did our original:

Caliber Home Loans

Said all previous customers get the best offers and it sounds to be true. Couple other lenders said that they try to sneak costs back into loan. We did not experience that.

Good hunting brotha!
 
Process has started to get into a 15 yr loan from a 30. Using equity to pay off debt and pay ourselves back instead of cc company .
 
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Glad to see great minds think alike on THP. We pulled the trigger on ours yesterday. Switched to a 15 year at 2.8%. Have to try to find some benefit from this disaster.
 
Lowered our rate significantly and moved from a 30 to a 15! Looks like I’m in good company
 
I'm at 3.2% on a 15 yr ATM with 13 yrs to go.
 
Really interested in following this, as I'm weighing my options in this as well.
 
Started paperwork last night. Going from current 4.25 down to 3.375 with no buy down or I could buy .5 point and get down to 2.8 on a 30yr.
That is with pulling $20k in equity out for complete master bath remodel and new counters in the kitchen.
Mortgage payment goes down $200 per month as well.
 
A few weeks ago our credit union allowed us to do a "reset" on our 2.5 year old mortgage which meant only one signature each on a two-page document. We will sell our house in 3 years and not replace it with another home so we did a 5/1 ARM at 2.375%.
 
tahoebum said:
A few weeks ago our credit union allowed us to do a "reset" on our 2.5 year old mortgage which meant only one signature each on a two-page document. We will sell our house in 3 years and not replace it with another home so we did a 5/1 ARM at 2.375%.
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Reset.....I like that word. Been trying to get in touch with Wells Fargo myself to see what "reset" they will do for us. But just to see, contacted another lendor we've used in the past, however not really interested if my out of pocket is going to be high.
 
Nate said:
Reset.....I like that word. Been trying to get in touch with Wells Fargo myself to see what "reset" they will do for us. But just to see, contacted another lendor we've used in the past, however not really interested if my out of pocket is going to be high.
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The only charge to us was $950 and we will get that back in less than 3 months with the lower interest rate.
 
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