home refi questions

[ELVIS]

ive heard from a few folks in the office that they are refinancing their homes as of late. is now a good time? are there any steadfast rules as to when its a good idea or not? i bought a home just about a year ago, not sure if that makes any difference. at what point is the rate reduction enough to do it? .25% .5% 1% lower? im going to check what my rate is when i run home for lunch and i'll post it. how can i find out what the rate is today? thanks gents!

god bless.

[slow99]

Mortgage rates generally track the 10YR US Treasury rate. Look like the 10YR Treasury has only moved down by about 25-30 basis points over the last year. All other things equal, it's probably not even worth it.

[Silverback]

bankrate.com should give you the "average" rates as of today

[mstng86]

It's probably not worth it unless you can get rid of PMI.

[juiceweezl]

Build a spreadsheet. Plot your current rate, balance, payment, interest paid, etc. and see the summary of it. Then, do the same with the new rate factoring in any points you'll pay, etc. Compare the values against each other. I bought a new house in 2010 at what I thought was a very good rate. I refi'd one year later to an even better deal. The savings were basically justified in 18 months.

[TX_92_Notch]

There are refinance calculators out there, just a Google search away...

Heck, they even post current rates on the interwebs.

[4bangen]

Elvis, My wife works for Quicken, shoot me your name and phone number if you want some help.

[akfodysvn]

Typically quicken will not be a competitive rate for what you can get locally. They send out the flyers all the time w/ rates advertised quite a bit more than most local lenders. Just my experience and maybe not always the case. Not trying to kill business for a member.

[SVT Lurch]

There are no set rules. Anyone who says you must go down X% and/or get rid of PMI or any other "rule of thumb" for it to be worth it is misinformed. It's a numbers game - will you break even on the cost of the refinance before you plan to sell the house? If yes, it makes financial sense to refinance, whether you're going down 0.125% or 2.500% in rate.

You get a prorated discount on your owner's title policy up to 7 years after financing a home, so the cost will generally be lower the sooner you refinance after buying the house.

Current 30 year fixed rates are in the low 4.xxx% range if you have good credit (740+ FICO).

[AdRock]

If you're an existing Wells Fargo they might still be offering their no cost refi. We didn't have any pmi to begin with. We were able to go from a 30yr @5.5% to 15yr @3.25. No costs, nothing added to the back end, no new appraisal, etc. The did up the new paperwork and we were at the bank about 20 minutes to sign everything.

[lincolnboy]

If you're an existing Wells Fargo they might still be offering their no cost refi. We didn't have any pmi to begin with. We were able to go from a 30yr @5.5% to 15yr @3.25. No costs, nothing added to the back end, no new appraisal, etc. The did up the new paperwork and we were at the bank about 20 minutes to sign everything.

Thats what im talking bout

[The King]

If you're an existing Wells Fargo they might still be offering their no cost refi. We didn't have any pmi to begin with. We were able to go from a 30yr @5.5% to 15yr @3.25. No costs, nothing added to the back end, no new appraisal, etc. The did up the new paperwork and we were at the bank about 20 minutes to sign everything.

Thats what im talking bout

That's what we did a few years ago, went from a 15 yr @ 5.25% to 15 yr @ 3.125%. Painless

[coley]

If you're an existing Wells Fargo they might still be offering their no cost refi. We didn't have any pmi to begin with. We were able to go from a 30yr @5.5% to 15yr @3.25. No costs, nothing added to the back end, no new appraisal, etc. The did up the new paperwork and we were at the bank about 20 minutes to sign everything.

Did the exact same thing back in late 12. We went with 10 year loan this time.

[jammeejamm]

what does refinancing do to your score?

with the information above, i plan on contacting wells fargo and checking on what they can do for me.

i just cannot bring down my score too far for i am on the lookout for a car, and my credit union has already made me jump through hoops to get everything ready when i find the car.

[robert]

went from 4.25 to 3.75
-200 a month