Thursday, January 31, 2008

Get a better mortgage refinance deal than your local bank offers

Gone are the days when money could be fetched either by mere mortgaging or financing something. Now it is time to get money via an amalgam of the two i.e. Mortgage Refinance. Mortgage refinance is a smart idea to have a good credit sum and repay it in an easy fashion. In simple terms a refinanced mortgage is one where a borrower repays a previous loan by taking a new one. The main motive behind refinance mortgage is to get a lower interest rate, lowering their payments or to take cash out of their home equity. So basically in mortgage refinance refers to taking a secured loan to replace the existing loan that is secured via some assets of yours.

Let us first delve into the factors that instigate a refinanced mortgage. There are several reasons that instigate people to opt for refinance. For instance

(a) Mortgage refinance reduces the interest rate on your mortgage. It not only minimizes your EMIs or monthly installments but also brings down the total amount that you need to repay.

(b) Another wonderful feature of mortgage refinance is the reduction in the tenure of the loan, which is immensely effective in saving lot many bucks.

(c) Mortgage refinance is a smart idea to consolidate or fuse the amount you need to repay.

(d) Mortgages refinance serves you with the most essential thing i.e. cash in hand. You can draw on an equity built up in the house to acquire cash amount for several purposes such as your daughter's marriage, child education etc.

(e) If you want to have an adjustable-rate mortgage i.e. ARM and a fixed-rate loan in order to ensure you regarding the mortgage payment, mortgage refinance is a brilliant idea.

However there are other things to be taken into consideration. First and foremost mortgage refinancing can be recommended if the present rate on your mortgage is at least 2 percentage points higher than the existing market rate. Second you need to know that for how long you propose to stay in the house. Third you need to know that according to many sources given the costs of refinancing, it takes at least three years to realize completely the savings made from a relatively lower interest rate. Finally in order to go for mortgage refinance is to enlist complete expenditure of refinance and calculate your monthly installments. Knowing this will enable you to decide whether you should opt for refinance or not.

Well before going for a mortgage refinance you can also ask yourself questions ponder over questions such as- by how much will your existing monthly installment be lowered, what will be the financing cost that you will have to pay, how much will you owe in the house and for how much was the initial payment for the house made etc. Once after going through the various factors and conditions you feel it is appropriate to go for a mortgage refinance (which is true with most of the cases) then the first step is to consult a good real estate agent, mortgage lender as well as an attorney and other legal practitioners. Searching online is even an excellent option.

Mortgage Refinance

When it's time to think about your mortgage refinance options, what should you know and how do you make the correct decisions? It's more than guesswork and you can greatly increase the odds that you'll refinance (or not) at the right time if you take time to consider some specific points.

Start by knowing your current mortgage interest rate. You can find this listed on your loan papers or your lender should be able to tell you. If you have a variable rate mortgage, you won't have a set interest rate, but that's also an important piece of information.

Next, find out the rate you'll be offered if you get your mortgage refinanced. A word of caution don't simply take a look at the interest rates being offered and assume you're going to get those rates. Ask about your specific situation. Lock a lender into a particular rate before you start the process. Many lenders advertise a very low rate, but you may find that you don't qualify for that rate. Be especially careful if you're being asked for any fees up front.

Compare the rate of your current mortgage with that you're being offered, but also consider the terms of the loan. For example, if you have a variable rate loan, you may find the benefits of having a fixed rate mortgage are sufficient to warrant a mortgage refinance, even if the rates you're paying aren't that much different from what you're being offered.

Most financial people recommend that you save at least one and a half full points on your interest rate before you consider a mortgage refinance. Why? You're likely going to be paying closing costs, appraisal fees and other costs associated with the refinance loan. If you're not saving at least one and a half full points, it will take you several years to save the amount of money you're spending on the closing. Again, this doesn't apply if you're getting significantly better terms that in themselves warrant following through with a new loan.

As a final point, consider your future plans. Are you expecting to move in the next few years? Are you looking for a change in job status that could create the need to change your location? Is your family growing and in need of more space? If you aren't going to stay in your current house at least two more years, a mortgage refinance probably isn't a good option because of the time it takes to recover the cost of the closing.

Mortgage Refinance � Look for Better Terms

Many people look at nothing but interest rates when they're considering whether the time is right for a mortgage refinance. But remember that there's more to the mortgage than the interest rates. In many cases, the terms of the mortgage may be sufficient reason for mortgage refinance.

One of the most common term issues that prompt a mortgage refinance is the difference between a variable rate and fixed rate loan. There is only one very basic difference between the two. A variable rate loan is exactly what it sounds like. The loan payments vary from month to month and the borrower pays whatever amount is designated by the current prime interest rate (a consensus among certain lenders of what interest rates should be). There are several negative points associated with a variable rate mortgage.

The first and most inconvenient is that you never know exactly how much your mortgage payment will be this month. Payments may remain fairly steady, but there will always be some variation. Depending on the terms of your loan, you may find yourself paying late fees or incredibly high interest on any portion of the payment you fail to make even if it's an oversight because you didn't know how much the payment should have been. Some people want the stability of fixed rates, and that's one reason to seek a mortgage refinance with a fixed rate.

One reason variable rate mortgages were so popular a few years ago is that interest rates were fluctuating wildly. While rates remain fairly steady today, there's always the possibility that interest rates as a whole could skyrocket. That's another reason to seek out a mortgage refinance. If interest rates were to become unstable, you'd know that your loan was locked in to a specific rate. Of course, locking yourself into a particular rate also means that you don't get to take advantage of the situation when interest rates overall dive. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth the risk.

Sometimes, a borrower found themselves locked in to a variable rate mortgage because they didn't qualify for the better loan terms. If that's your case, you may find that you qualify for better terms after paying regularly on the existing loan for a period of time. If you've made payments on time every time and have demonstrated your ability and willingness to meet the terms of your loan, your lender may be ready to offer you better terms. In that case, you may be able to trade in your variable rate mortgage for a fixed rate mortgage, and a mortgage refinance may be a very good option.