When is the best time to refinance your home?

Question

I live in a condo, and we have a 100% mortgage. We have to pay mortgage insurance because it is not under 80%. So now our home is worth 170,000 and we paid 140000 for it, and we bought it in february. Is it bad to refinance this early? Please let me know the pros and cons of doing this. Will it poorly affect my credit? Does it cost alot? etc. etc.

Answer 1

If you are refinancing to remove the mortgage insurance, you may not need to. If you have been in the house over 2 years, have 20% equity, and have conventional mortgage insurance (not FHA loan) you can remove the mortgage insurance simply by having the house reappraised and then showing the lender you now have 20% equity. If the appraisal does not show 20% equity you will need to pay down the loan a bit to get that 20%. Note that the appraisers are usually conservative and the banks may be jerks about removing the insurance but keep at it and you can get it removed (assuming you meet the other standards).

As to when, otherwise, its worth it to refinance - I'd advise thinking long and hard about your situation and what you want to accomplish. If you plan on moving pretty soon (even within a few years) you probably won't get back the costs to refinance to its not worth it. If you have a good interest rate compared to whats available its probably not worth it. Still it you are staying there awhile and have a high interest rate (or varibale rate and want a fixed one or something) it may be worth it.

To find out for sure, figure out what your current rate is, what the new one is, what costs are = and crunch the numbers. Eloan used to be great to figure all this out (and then you can apply for a loan there if you like them - but be sure to compare other places too).

Good luck.

Answer 2

I don't know who your current loan is with but some lenders will let you refinance without having any closing costs involved. The first thing you should do is call the lender on your property to ask what options they offer and what the costs will be.

If you go to a Mortgage Broker or a bank and refinance then you'll have closing costs all over again which are about as much as the closing costs you paid when you first purchased the condo. Refinancing again should not affect your score that much it might go down a few points or so. MI (mtg insurance) is definitely a waste of money.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

As long as you don't have a pre payment penalty and your new lender will allow you to use the appraised value of your home- refinance now and use the equity in the home for your other bills. The smart thing would be to switch to an 80/15 or 80/ 20 and avoid the PMI.
It will actually help your credit as you will show a paid off mortgage as well.
There is always a cost involved- appraisals, title, government charges, etc. but you can write some of that off on your taxes anyways.
Talk to 3-4 brokers and take the best deal on rate and origination fees.
Good luck!

Answer 4

If you just bought the home in February (100% financing) for 140,000, how is it worth 170,000 now? You may be able to refinance if that is the case. If your home is not worth much or any more than when you bought it, which is most likely, then you may not be able to refinance, or at least refinance into a mortgage that is going to help you at all. Refinancing will not affect your credit at all. You will pay typically many of the same fees to refinance as you did to purchase your home. The fees will be rolled over into the new loan (unless you would rather pay for them with cash). The pros of refinancing are to refinance to a better loan with better loan terms (rate, payment, etc...). The cons are that it will cost you a little money to refinance that will increase the balance of your home, but if it saves you enough money then it is well worth it.

Answer 5

Actually you are not below 80% yet you are at 82% so I woudl not seek a refinance just yet. Now question of when to refinance can be tricky and you really need to consider why you are refinancing and what the rates are. If you are merely refinancing to get out from under PMI then the quetion is how much is your monthly PMI payment versus how much your payment will rise with a higher intrest rate (I assume you will refinance at a higher rate since rates have been rising). Don't forget to include the cost of the loan which you will most likely have built into the loan. For instance if you were paying $70 in PMI and then refied your home but the new cost is an additional $83 then you can see you actually hurt yourself by getting out of PMI. As for your other questions it is not bad to refinance at all, it only matters what you do with the money. As for an affect on your credit score the refi it self is not harmful but having several lenders run your credit in a short span of time can. As to cost that really depends on who you go with. For instance when I attempted to refinance last year I had one lender who essentially wanted to charge me $6,000 for the loan. He hid costs all over the place I fought with them about it and eventually walked away. I went with a lender I had used in the past and the refi cost me $600 (The reason I did not go with the lender I used in the past first was that I had taken a real estate financing course and could not believe the stories the professor was telling us. Unfortunately they were all true).

Answer 6

I don't know much, but you should refinance when you can be under 80%. Mortgage insurance is a waste of time and money. Make sure you talk to 3-4 different lenders, get all the details and then make an educated decision.

Answer 7

each and every time thinking a refinance you ought to look carefully on the fee of the residing house as against the very own loan stability. some areas interior the rustic have suffered a severe devalualtion contained available in the marketplace fee of the residing house. Have a Realtor pull comps on your section to confirm what the present marketplace fee is. Then touch a great very own loan broking provider to shop costs. although you agree on do no longer borrow greater desirable than 80% of the fee of your place...you choose that cushion to permit for marketplace united statesand downs. good success!

Answer 8

First off there are always closing costs, they tend to be in the 3-4% range, you see these commercials about no cost, it's a lie, because they just jack up the interest rate. Second your ltv is still over 80%, you will be paying pmi still. The good thing is that you can refi and be closer to the 80% ltv that you need to get rid of that pmi and lessen the time it takes to get rid of it. If you are unhappy with what you have, it never hurts to look around. Email me if you want and I can answer any other questions.

Answer 9

Because you've owned the condo for less than a year, investor requirements specify that the assigned value will be the original appraised value so you will not see the benefit of the appreciated value until next February.

At that time, I woul drecommend you contact your lender about a streamline refinance. It is much simpler and very cost effective.

Watch out for th sharks in here.

Answer 10

you should finance after you have been in the home 5 yrs anything under that is not worth it . good luck.