Friday, May 4, 2007

Should You Consider Home Refinance, or Not?

Home refinance seems to be the craze these days with interest rates at all time lows. However, you need to do some home refinance research before you will know if it is for you or not. In general, if you bought a home when interest rates were significantly higher, have great credit, little debt, and always pay your bills on time then you should probably at least consider home refinance. Although, if you meet any of the following criteria then you definitely need to think twice before you decide on a home refinance.

Home Refinance Tip #1 Second Mortgages
If you have a second mortgage and decide on a home refinance then you will likely find yourself paying more than with your original home loan. If you have taken out a second mortgage on your home to help pay other bills then getting a lender to consider a home refinance for you is going to be difficult.

Home Refinance Tip #2 High Debt to Income Ratio
When you apply for a home refinance option then you will have to go through the same qualification procedures you did as when you were approved for your first loan. If you have a high debt to income ratio then it will be unlikely you will be approved for home refinance, and if you are approved for a home refinance it is highly unlikely the terms would be worthwhile.

Home Refinance Tip #3 Bad Credit
Bad credit is generally the main villain when it comes to having a proposed home refinance application denied. So, if you have trouble paying your bills, are making late payments, and your credit score is decliningFeature Articles, then you definitely need to get your credit in shape before you consider a home refinance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.generalrefinance.com a website specialized on Refinance, resources and articles. This site provides updated information on Refinance. For more info visit his site: Refinance

What Home Refinance does for you

Home Refinance
- Basically, a home refinance is paying off one home loan with another loan. So the question is, should you refinance or not? How do you know when it is right for you to get a home refinance mortgage? In other words, when does home refinance make sense for you?

What Home Refinance does for you
Whenever interest rates drop, as they sometimes do, homeowners might have the opportunity to save money on their loan payments. As a rule of thumb, lower interest rates translate into lower mortgage loan rates. Home refinance allows you to take advantage of low mortgage rates. With a new loan for a relatively lower interest rate, you can save a few bucks on every monthly payment that you have to make.

The decision-making process of home refinance involves one basic calculation. And that is if your savings from reduced mortgage payments are greater than the up-front costs. This then is where the basics of home refinance decision lie.

Use a Home Refinance Calculator
Nearly all types of financial calculator require a simple rule of thumb. Often, when we want to calculate our loan finances, we are told to look for a minimum interest rate improvement of, say, two percentage points from our existing mortgage before getting serious about home refinance.

However, when it comes to home refinance mortgage, such rules of thumb can be very misleading. The cut in interest rate which you need in order to come out ahead with your home refinance venture may vary dramatically. More often than not, interest rate cuts depend on how long you plan to hold the new mortgage, how many years you have already paid on the current mortgage, and the increasingly available opportunities for cutting closing costs.

Thus, it is hard to come up with just one rule that can cover all possible scenarios involved in home refinance with reasonable accuracy. So how do you know when it's right for you to refinance your home?

Do a little math
You can take the specific numbers that match your unique situation. Find out how much remains on your loan and what rate you are currently paying. Input all these figures into an online calculator (you can find lots of websites that hosts these useful tools for free).

For instanceScience Articles, you can use a calculator to find what your home refinance costs might be. You can then use the figures you get as a guide when you're surveying potential lenders for the loan that's just right for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tony Forster has a keen interest in living debt free having been "up to his ears" before I realized the need to take control. I am compiling a useful online resource at http://www.loan4payday.info enabling anyone to find the perfect money managment for them

The Advantages of Refinance

Refinance
- If you have at one time or another bought a home, then you probably heard of the term "refinance." But what is refinance, exactly?

Let's go down to the basics. The term financing refers to the act of providing a certain amount of money to an individual in order to buy a home, a car, a real estate property, et cetera. Loans and mortgages are actually types of financing. Now, when we say "refinance", therefore, it means that we are still providing a certain amount of money. The prefix "re-" actually points to the idea that you will be basically taking a new mortgage or loan to replace an old one.

The Advantages of Refinance
Financial analysts will claim that refinance is a great option for buyers when interest rates are low. The reason for this is quite obvious. Refinance mortgages or loans allow you to take new loans for a relatively lower interest rate. Low interest rates mean low monthly repayments. And low monthly repayments mean bigger savings for you. Of course, this only works if, and only if, the rates are low. If the rates are high, refinance is not advisable.

Another advantage of refinancing your mortgage loan is that the move will allow you to change loan terms from a long one to something shorter. With a shorter loan term, you can pay off your loan amount much sooner, thus allowing you to save more on your overall interest payments.

Other Benefits of Refinance.
Besides bigger savings on your monthly bills, a refinance mortgage or loan provides you greater loan satisfaction. For instance, if you find that the terms of your current loan are unsatisfactory, you can switch to another lender with a refinance loan. You can use the money you get from your refinance loan to pay off your old loan. In addition to that, refinancing gives you the option to change your lending company whose services or programs make you unhappy or unsatisfied.

Refinance is also a good way to consolidate your monthly bills. Don't you just find it such a complete headache to receive all sorts of bills every month? Bills which are very confusing and very time-consuming to sort? You can get rid of this problem with a mortgage refinance. Getting a second loan will allow you to consolidate all your debts into one single monthly bill. Debt consolidation is especially beneficial which aside from lessening the hassle you'd have to go throughPsychology Articles, it also reduces the possibility of a bill forgotten or a debt going unpaid.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tony Forster has a keen interest in living debt free having been "up to his ears" before I realized the need to take control. I am compiling a useful online resource at http://www.loan4payday.info enabling anyone to find the perfect money managment for them.