| The big news for the last year has
been refinancing existing mortgages. If this is something
that you are considering, it is not too late to "jump
on the bandwagon". There has been no better time in
the last forty years to buy a home or refinance an existing
one! Interest rates haven't been this low since the
early 60's.
How do you decide if refinancing is right for you? Where
do you find the best deals? The best way to get started
is to gather as much information as possible about your
current mortgage. The key things to know are:
- Your monthly Mortgage payment
- Total amount originally financed
- When your mortgage started
- Total number of years financed (many home loans
are for thirty years)
- Name of organization holding the mortgage
- Information about any possible penalties for
refinancing
- How long you plan to stay in your current house
Figure out how much you can afford to spend on your
mortgage each month. This has probably changed from
when you first purchased your home so you may be able
to afford to pay more now. You may be asking, "I thought
I was refinancing to save money. Why would I consider
paying more?"
By paying just a few dollars more per month you may
be able to cut five, ten or even more years from your
mortgage. This will save you many thousands of dollars,
over the life of your mortgage and build equity in your
house much faster. Remember, the more equity you have,
the more money you get to keep if you should sell. Another
good thing about equity is that you are less tempted
to spend it, so it is like a forced savings plan helping
you reach you financial goals. Many people would simply
waste an extra $10 or $50 or even $100 a month anyway
so by adding it to your mortgage you can be thousands
richer in a few years and not even miss the money.
To help you calculate whether refinancing is right
for you we have provided a Refinancing
Calculator by entering the numbers above into the
calculator you can determine how long it will take you
to "break even". If you plan to stay in your
current house longer than your "break even"
point it will benefit you to refinance.
You should then compare mortgage
rates.
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Current Mortgage Rates
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