Have many of you refinanced your homes?

[nemesis]

I'm considering it. Currently my mortgage is with USSA but their mortgage department is impossible to talk to. Endless phone trees and never an option to talk to a living human.

I'm in Broken Arrow and bank with Arvest.

If you've refinanced, who did you use and how did you like the before, and after, treatment/service?

 

[dx3]

I have considered it several times with my rental house, but each time haven't followed through. The main thing to watch for is when a bank runs a special on no closing costs... that could save you a minimum of $2500...

If you do a B/E it usually takes about 3-4 years (at least for me) if there are closing costs to make it worthwhile. So if you plan on selling within that time period, then it's better to hold off. Obviously you'd have to run your own amortization table to see where your B/E would be...

Jonny

 

[SgtMojo67]

I did Nov. '10....When I bought my house, I did an 80-20 1st and 2nd. Our interest rate was 6.4 on the 1st and 8 on the 2nd......I refinanced combining both with a 4.25% rate....supposed to save over $80,000 over the life of the loan (30 year fixed). Our lender said don't refinance if you plan on selling in the next two years....like dx3 said, hold out if you are going to sell.....

 

[RidgeHunter]

Seriously considering it. If I could drop my rate significantly and throw the difference at principal that would be cool.

I'm with Arvest too. They did my construction and permanent loan and were pretty easy to deal with. Part of me doesn't want to mess with it, though.

I will be watching this thread for tips.

 

[peanut]

It definitely takes a long time to break even if you refi on a rental and you usually don't get the better rates.
I believe you have to live in the house to get the better rates and like Jonny saud it takes atleast 3 years to make it worth it IF the closing costs arent too much.
Really depends how much % you can drop your rate and how long you stay in the house.

 

[SgtMojo67]

I have been told it isn't worth it unless you can drop your interest rate by 1.5%........The loan officer that did our loan is the wife of one of my Lt's at the PD......She has helped a lot of us out. It was smooth and painless. Sherri Pullen at First United Bank and Trust......you should look her up.

 

[dennishoddy]

We refinanced ours years ago. By paying a little extra each month, we knocked the time of the loan from 18 years to 12 years. Got it paid off four years ago. sure is nice not having to write that check each month.

 

[XD-9Guy]

I saved over 1.25% and was less than 2 years into my mortgage so it was a no brainer for me. My mortgage payment went down over a hundred bucks a month so I'm able to pay that amount towards principle now. Should pay off a 30 year in well under 20, there a chance we'll still be here in 30 years so it made sense for us. We considered it for several months, watching rates, & then pulled the trigger when they went low enough.

 

[JB Books]

I would never finance real estate over 15 years.

 

[XD-9Guy]

I would never finance real estate over 15 years.

That'd be a good rule to follow. If everyone was that cautious with their money there'd be infinitely fewer homes being foreclosed on.