Refinancing Mortgage

Good for you for getting out from under an ARM!! I don't like ARMs. People forget about the balloon payments and their world gets turned upside down!!

A lot of your questions can be answered here:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/howdoi/howdoigbm.asp

okay - are you trying to pull money out and that's why you are concerned about equity?

Refinancing to get a fixed rate or just to refinance to get a lower rate - you don't have to have equity.

Since you have had to mortgage for longer than 2 years - you should NOT have to pay PMI - that is for NEW mortgages.

Talk to your mortgage lender - not a broker as you end up paying them fees - so go directly to the bank or the credit union and tell them you want to refinance your mortgage. Ask questions:

- what is your current fixed rate mortgage for 30 years?
- when can I lock in that rate?
- can I get my fees wrapped into the mortgage so I don't have to come to the table with closing costs?
- do I need to get an appraisal if I am only refinancing the loan and not taking money out?
- how long do you expect it to take to close?

There are other questions - but you get it. Use the link above to get more information.

Only way to *really* know is by having an appraisal done. DO NOT use any appraisal company. Find a lender/broker that you like & trust & just have them use their appraisal companies that are approved with them.

I was a mortgage broker for many many years. I have to say that working with Quicken Loans was by far my favorite company to work with. In fact I decided to use them for my own refinances. All my clients loved Quicken so much, I had a lot of repeat business with the same clients.

PMI sucks but it is better than the alternative. Just make sure you have properly weighed all your options and pick the one that best suits your needs and wants for your future.

While it would stink to pay PMI, it might still be totally worth it! What you really need to do is get all of your information together and just make that appointment at the back. They can help you really crunch the numbers and see if it's in your best interest. It would be hard to believe it isn't, but I'm sure you'll want to actually see the numbers so you know for certain.

Even if you had to add PMI into your payment for a time, I would think with the low interest rates your payment would still be less than it is now. Remember, the interest rate you have is HUGE! By that I mean that your interest rate has a much larger impact on your monthly payment and on the total amount you end up paying in the end. A little bit of PMI (even though it may be an "ouch" at first) will be so small compared to the amount you would be paying with a larger interest rate.

If I were you, I'd call a mortgage company, give them ALL this information, get a written offer, and present this to your husband. This way you will both know for sure what your choices are.

THe market HAS been plateauing somewhat, differing 'expert' opinions whether we've started a slow upslide or not, and WIDELY varying from region to region.

:)

Every lender has different requirements. Contact them. Let them pull your credit report, have an appraisal done (you will have to pay for this, typically $400 to $600) and see what your home is valued.

Some lenders will refinance without equity to allow the borrower to get a lower interest rate.

It all depends upon your credit and paying history. Contact your lender for the most accurate information.

The appraisal that you would have for a refi usually always comes in higher than the county one. You could just higher an appraisal company to appraise it and then decide if you want to go ahead with the refi. Just make sure that whoever you are going to use for the refi will accept that appraisal. The county appraised ours at 309K and the appraiser said 343K. I would jump on these fixed rates. It's the lowest they have been in 40+ years. Good luck.

It doesn't hurt to apply. Just make sure they don't ask for an appraisal until after you are approved so you are not out the amount of the appraisal.

Looking at Leelee's answer, you can get pre-approval without the appraisal. That way you know if it is even possible with your lack of equity. If you can get the pre-approval then you must get the appraisal to prove your numbers. By going that way you don't pay 500 for an appraisal just to find out you need more money down than you have.

You won't know anything until you at least talk to a lender. Once that is done, you can decide. If you at least get to the appraisal part, then you will have an idea where you sit compared to everyone else. We have an ARM. Not all ARMs are horrible death traps to the wallet. Our ARM is tied to 6 month libor with a 2.75 margin and adjusts every 6 months with max 1% change. No balloon payment. This means our current rate is lower than the regular fixed. I am afraid of what could happen but we would be good for a minimum of a year if it went up, taking us back to our initial rate which would still be low. Take a look at your terms and get to know how and when your rate would change, just in case a refi cannot be done. ARMs are not horrible, you just need to know what you are signing if you have one.

I just refinanced my house. Call a lender and ask them these questions. When I started the person asked me questions to determine if it would be possible to refinance before asking me for an application fee.

The application fee was around $400. The lender may ask for an appraisal. The fee for the appraisal was rolled into the loan in my case. The only out of pocket fees I paid was for the application.

I suggest it's best if you talk with a lender before starting out on your own to get an appraisal. You may not even need one.

Find out the correct answers by calling a lender. Before you apply at one, shop around. Different lenders have different requirements and fees.

I think you are working yourself up too much. It's fairly easy to get a refinance and get extra money too. You don't put money down on a refinance. Don't procrastinate get it done and don't blame your husband anymore. It's not helping you...just get it done.

Get a refi through a mortgage broker. We did our most recent refinance through a local broker (I think Interbank Mortgage?) and we got a 20 year fixed rate at 4.00%. We could have gotten a lower rate if we paid a $400 fee to refinance. But want to keep our options open to refinance again if interest rates dip down even lower.

If you can find a broker to refinance, you probably won't have to pay any fees -- including the appraisal fees. So if you can't get the appraisal you need, you can just walk away. Good luck to you! It sounds like you are right on the cusp there, so I'll bet the banks will be willing to work with you.

Don't be too mad at your husband. You never know if interest rates will be even lower and real estate prices could go higher with spring around the corner.

It doesn't help to worry, just go and talk to a broker. I know it's making you nervous, but rates are at historic lows and it may be worth it even if you do have to pay PMI for a limited amount of time.

We just (as in, 3 days ago) refinanced for 15 years at a fixed rate of 2.875%. We kept our payment the same as it was previously and knocked 7 years off of our payment schedule (that is, we had 22 years left on our previous 30 year loan, and now we have only 15 years). It was a hassle but so worth it.

My recomendations are do your homework, call different lenders get their interest rates, terms of loans. You def can get a low rate with a 30yr mtg. Some lenders will only require the closing cost including the appraisal fee. Even if the value of you house has dropped a lot you have invested money in it and therefore you just might have enough equity to balance it out.
You can also check other organizations like Neighborhood Housing Services ###-###-#### they have great refinancing progams.
Great lenders to work with is Citibank, Wells Fargo not so good Chase and def one of the worst is BOA.

Good Luck!

They won't let any type of refi go through WITHOUT an appraisal first. I know this because our refi didn't go through for this very reason, not enough equity and the comps in the area included some foreclosures/short sales that lowered our home's worth. Also, the bank will send out the appraiser; they no longer allow you to pick your own (for obvious reasons). All you can do is try. Good luck!

P.S. Be very careful if you do go through with it and have to do PMI. I've read recently that nowadays some banks are trying to keep the PMI even after your home has accrued enough equity to get rid of it. So just be sure you read all the fine text.

You won't really know until you talk to a lender. You are correct, you do need equity to do a re-fi. Each lender's equity rules vary - our credit union, for example, doesn't do a re-fi unless you have 20% equity. On the other end of the spectrum, FHA lenders will lend up to 95% of your home's value.

Once you start the paperwork, the lender will order an appraisal and you'll have real numbers to work with. If it works out right now, great. If it doesn't, you'll at least know what your home is worth and what the magic number would be to have enough equity to do a re-fi at the best rate. On the up side, your ARM is not going to go up, so if it doesn't happen this year, you're OK until at least the next re-set date and with continued payments you'll have even more equity next time. So try not to sweat it. Also, home values in my area bottomed out at the end of 2009, so doing a re-fi 2 years ago might not have put you in a different situation that what you're in now (you can always check Zillow if you're curious).

Good luck! I think that once you get the ball rolling on this and have real data to work with, you'll be less stressed out. It'll be OK.

we are going through a re-fi right now on two properties and an equity line - rates are low and we are considering going to a 15 year as we hate to start the 30 year clock again. We were SHOCKED at our appraisals. SO LOW. Be prepared for an appraisal at or just above what the lowest sale price or listing was in your area in the last year. We are now paying for how fast and loose the mortgage industry was a few years ago. Our re-fi is taking forever and in the end we may just decide to not do it because the closing costs aren't worth it.

You have lots of options, one of which is going through your current lender. i have a friend who avoided much of this just by using their current lender to restructure the loan.

Good Luck and don;t be made a your DH. You prob would have been int he same situation 2 years ago and the rates weren't as low as they are now ;-)

I always have people call the person I personally used to get a mortgage and refinance, Bill Skutta ###-###-#### x136 or cell ###-###-#### with Mortgage Resource Group. Everyone who I have referred have been super happy with his honesty, ease to work with, and loads of options he has. Call yourself or have your husband call, he will give you options not "sell" you.

Do not go to the table with everything you have to do the refi unless you are saying you have six months of full living expenses in the bank. A best case is getting approved for the fixed rate, maintaing your savings and working hard to pay extra every month. If there is pmi find out the length of time and how much as depending on your rate you shouldn't be paying it too long and can get it removed. Arms are a gamble and a scary one. Research brokers and go find out hard info with hubby for your best.option for your sitiation. Do keep putting any monthly savings you may realize back into the mortgage so you won't have one sooner.

We got a 7 year arm about 9 years ago. I'm staying with it as long as the rates are the same or in our case have gone down the last few years. We refinanced with the 7 year arm in order to try and pay down principal faster. We continued to pay the higher monthly that we had previously so the extra went directly towards the principal. It has worked well. Unfortunately 2 things have happened. Our house value has plummeted to what it was worth 15 years ago and the taxes have skyrocketed. Now we are paying very little extra to the principal. We are still ahead having done the extra amount for the last 8 years.