July 8, 201214 yr Throw out your question. What rate do you have now? How many more months in your loan? How much equity do you have? Do you want to take any cash out?
July 8, 201214 yr Rates change each week. They will vary depending on your term....30 years, 15, 10....fixed or variable. We just refinanced 2 months ago.......we had refinanced 2 years earlier but it stil made sense because the rates dropped .... For 15 years, we went from a 4.0% to a 2.875% ...Difference in the monthly payments means I can take that amount and make extra payments to actually get the term down to closer to 10 years.... Did a lot of research between the different options. The Bank of Ky is where I landed......Scott Shilling is the guy I used....Very happy with him. (I'm not him or related or friends with him...) Closing costs could be bought down...... Good luck.....
July 8, 201214 yr Lots of financially savy BGPer that can give info,some of the basic questions Clyde asked would be helpful. If you are looking to make a move soon send Qryche11 a PM.
July 8, 201214 yr One thing I can add to this is at all costs stay away from 5th 3rd bank. Go to a mortgage company or smaller, independent bank.
July 8, 201214 yr My wife and I have been discussing refinancing so I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread. I have questions but don't want they are yet.
July 8, 201214 yr My wife and I have been discussing refinancing so I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread. I have questions but don't want they are yet. What is your current rate?
July 9, 201214 yr One thing that you may want to keep your eye on is what your house will appraise for and how long are you wanting to stay in the house.
July 9, 201214 yr One thing that you may want to keep your eye on is what your house will appraise for and how long are you wanting to stay in the house. You are correct, Lucky. Qryche can correct me but I think many are now looking for 20+% equity (Your loan has to be less than 80% of the current appraised value).
July 9, 201214 yr What is your current rate? 5.75% 268 months left. I'm clueless on the equity question. I'm a financial moron. We'd love cash back to put in a pool. We plan on staying in this house forever.
July 9, 201214 yr I refinanced last year into the low 4s after mistakenly calling a bottom at 4.75. Closing cost was less than zero back then. 30 year is around 4.00 now. I also just closed on a investment property and it was only 4.125 which is good for commercial. Just be prepared for a financial root canal - even with good credit scores. The lending organizations go over everything in detail now-a-days. Appraisals are still the key and may come in lower than expected. They have strict rules and the lenders can not cherry pick their favorite appraisers now. They are fire walled off from the appraisal process. As long you have good equity and solid credit scores a refinance should not be a problem. All the forms are standardized and now a lot of the costs are standardized. But do shop lenders and shop the non-traditional loan originators. They can often do better than the banks on closing costs and fees. In the end Fannie Mae will likely hold the loan anyway.
July 9, 201214 yr First of all, many people do not realize that it isn't always about 20% equity in your property. There are a couple of Government programs right now that allow folks to refinance if you have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac backed loan regardless if you have 20% equity or you owe more than your house is worth. It is part of the Making Homes Affordable Program and you can do a google search on this to understand more. You can plug in your information on both the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac site and determine if you qualify for one of these. I have closed over 300 of these refinances in the past 3 yrs as the program started back in April 2009. The HARP 2.0 just came out over a month or so ago and it allows customers with Freddie Mac backed loans to have unlimited loan to value of home. This means that if you owe $150,000 on your home and the value is $50,000, you can still refinance at market rates. The Government's main goal here is to help consumers who have been deeply affected by the drop in home values and they want to see customers get lower payments so they can free up more cash to stimulate the economy or pay down their mortgages. I have helped numerous customers who have had no control over Market values dropping and it has been a huge relief for them to drop their rate from 6% down to 3.99% and save over $200 a month on their payment. The bottom line is wherever you go today it is going to take a long time. Standard turnaround time on a refinance is 75 days across the country. There is a huge shortage in Operations for most banks, there are just not enough underwriters, processors, etc. We had 15 calls holding at 4:30pm on Friday when I left the office and I took 7 applications on Friday alone from customers looking to refinance. The rates are just so freakin low and the demand is so high but the problem is there isnt enough on the Ops side. We are struggling at my bank with customer service issues due to these issues. However, rate locks have been protected so you never lose your lock. When you are looking to refinance, the keys are the following. What is your current rate and how long do you plan on staying in the home? If you can lower your payment and recoup the closing costs within 18-24 months then it is worth it, but only if you plan to be in the home longer than 2 yrs. There are rate options where you can choose slightly higher market rates and get credits to cover closing costs. For instance, instead of taking the lowest rate of lets say 3.75% on a 30 yr fixed where you have $2500 closing costs, you may choose 3.99% and get $2,000 in credits to cover the majority of the costs. I would be more than happy to discuss refinancing with any of you and I will be upfront on the process and expectations will be set if you decided you wanted to go through me.
July 9, 201214 yr How important is credit score? I'd seen credit scores mentioned. Not sure what mine is now but it isn't great. Probably not even good to be honest.
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