When is the right time to refinance your mortgage?
Mark Lambie
The first thing you need to verify is the interest rate for your existing mortgage and the interest rates being offered across the board for new loans. If there's not at least a one and a half to two point difference, you're probably not going to be significantly better off to refinance your mortgage. Here's why.
Remember those closing costs on your initial mortgage? You probably paid for an appraisal, perhaps a home inspector's services and even a survey if you have rural property. Depending on how long it's been since your original loan, you may be faced with having all those processes repeated. Especially if you are going with another lender, have had the existing mortgage for at least two years, have made major modifications to your home or property, or have seen some significant variations in property values in your area, you're probably going to be required to have an appraisal at the very least. While it's not a huge cost for an appraisal, comparing that with the amount you're going to save on a slight drop in interest rates could show that it will take months to recoup that expense. Don't forget that you'll likely have some additional closing costs from the lender on the new mortgage (you are, after all, taking out a new mortgage even though you have an existing loan) and you may even be facing penalties for paying off your existing loan early. Weigh those costs against what you expect to save before you take this step.
So does that mean that you should never refinance an existing mortgage? Actually, there are plenty of opportunities when refinancing your mortgage makes good financial sense. If you've significantly increased the value of your home or have been paying for several years, you may have enough equity to qualify for a better interest rate. You may also lower monthly payments or refinance to make improvements. In the end, it's up to you to weigh the costs of refinancing your mortgage and decide if the time is right for you to take this step.
About the Author
Mark Lambie is the founder of The Loan House a website that allows consumers to quickly and easily get free mortgage quotes and mortgage information.
The latest information and news on Mortgages:
Some tax issues to consider on mortgage write-downs (Washington Post)
With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive -- or seek to receive -- such assistance. The IRS gets involved in m...
Borrowers in foreclosure prevention plan losing mortgage aid (Washington Post)
About 90,000 distressed borrowers have lost their mortgage aid under the government's foreclosure prevention plan, and many more are at risk of losing the help, according to Treasury Department data released Friday.
Some tax issues to consider on mortgage write-downs (Washington Post)
With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive -- or seek to receive -- such assistance. The IRS gets involved in.....
Lender blames escrow shortage for $400 increase in monthly mortgage payment (...
Q: We have owned our house for many years, and the lender has always escrowed money to pay our real estate taxes and insurance. This year, we received a notice from the lender that our monthly mortgage payment will increase by over $400 because there is an escrow shortage. Can we cancel the escrow r...
Mortgage interest rates down for second week as home loan applications rise (...
Mortgage interest rates declined for a second consecutive week as the number of home loan applications rose.
Yahoo! News Search Results for refinance
Refinance may limit financial flexibility (Bankrate.com via Yahoo! Finance)
Reduced financial flexibility may be the price for a home refinance that lowers your mortgage rate.
Pernod Ricard Plans to Issue Bonds to Refinance Absolut Buyout (Bloomberg)
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Pernod Ricard SA , the world?s second-biggest liquor maker, is planning to sell six-year bonds to help refinance loans used to buy the Absolut vodka brand in March 2008.
Tamaqua Area school district to save $137,000 by refinancing bond (The Pottsv...
TAMAQUA - Tamaqua Area school directors say they will save the district about $137,000 by refinancing a bond issue that originally paid for the Tamaqua Area Middle School. School directors unanimously voted to refinance about $3.1 million in outstanding
Euro finance ministers to agree on Greek aid: source (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Euro zone finance ministers are likely to agree on Monday on a mechanism for aiding Greece financially, if it is required, but will leave out any sums until Athens asks for them, an EU source said on Saturday.
LA council approves $2B sale of LAX bonds (Daily Breeze)
The Los Angeles City Council agreed Friday to sell another $2 billion worth of bonds to help pay for construction projects and refinance existing debt for Los Angeles International Airport.