Friday, September 21, 2007

When Should You Refinance Your House?

A simple guide from financial experts, you should not refinance your house unless the market rates are approximately two percent below your original mortgage lock in rate. But, there are many re-financiers take advantage of one and a half or even one and a quarter percent differences in the refinancing rate. It may be worth if the principal of your loan is high, relative to the costs of refinancing.

Let consider some of the scenarios in which it's wise to refinance your house:

Scenario 1: You current mortgage loan rate is high in relative to market rates

If you are currently holding a mortgage loan which has interest rate significantly higher than the rates offer in the market. And after calculating all the refinance cost and you are seeing a "Saving" in loan repayment. Then, refinancing your house would be your wise decision.

Scenario 2: Refinance from adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed mortgage

You currently hold on adjustable rate mortgage and you have recently discovered that your long term income prospects aren't looking as rosy as they once were. And the mortgage interest rate has very high chances to be increased in near future. You do not want to your financial future to be affected with these unforeseen changes which may causes a spike increase in your loan repayment. Therefore, you can refinance to a fixed mortgage loan so that you can budget more effectively on your reduced income stream.

Scenario 3: To shorter your mortgage loan term

Your financial situation is getting better and you may want to build equity as fast as possible in your house so that you can fully own it with full loan settlement. Hence, if you refinance to a shorter mortgage loan term, you can create this equity faster.

But, you should consider it carefully with you financial ability with the new loan term. If you are going to take on higher monthly payments, its savvy to work with a financial planner to see how these increased monthly costs may impact your investment portfolio and general quality of living.

Scenario 4: Refinance to avoid spike payment due to balloon mortgage

You might signup a balloon mortgage loan package when you bought your house. As you know that you need to pay for large payment at the time of maturity. The time is coming close but you forecast that your financial situation may not support it when the time come; thus, you may want to refinance your house before the large payments come due and pass the debt down to your future self. By creating this time cushion, you give yourself a window to generate income and asset streams in anticipation of your upcoming refinanced mortgage payments.

Scenario 5: Refinance To finance other big ticket purchases

You can refinance to draw upon the earned equity in your home to finance certain big ticket purchases. Remember that the duration of time you expect to stay in your house will influence your refinancing calculations.

Summary

There are many mortgage tools found in the internet and you can use them to do your refinance calculation before making any decision to refinance your house. Get more information from bank officers on their refinance packages and make a summary on all the potential cost involve before make up your wise decision.

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