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20 year @ 5.125, and they paid me to take it. It would have been "no cost" @ 5.00%, but at the time the 2 grand in the hand seemed better than the couple a bucks a month forever...
15 year fixed @ 5% obtained in September 2003. It was our third refinance after starting with 8.375% 30 yr in 1993. Each time, we just refinanced the balance and did not take any equity out.
Can't see paying it off anytime soon, although I might refinance if rates dropped low enough..
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Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 6,438
30yr, 5.5%
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O.K., you are going to have to give us details on this one!
Not that exciting a story -- that was the going rate a couple of years ago. These days it is around 3.1-3.2%, I believe.
Oh, and did I mention the mortgage tax credit which knocks off 1 percentage point for the first 8 years, and half a percentage point for the next two years after that?
We bought our house in 1983 at 12 3/8%, 30 year fixed.
1988 - Refinanced to 9% 25 year fixed.
1993 - Refinanced to 7% 15 year fixed.
2003 - Paid off the mortgage with a HELOC at 3.5% variable. Took an additional $10,000 for home repairs.
2006 - the HELOC had increased to 7%. Paid it off with a balance transfer from a credit card with a rate of 2.99% for 1 year and then dropping to 1.99% for life.
Yes, we paid off our house with a charge card. As brewer12345 said, I can't imagine ever getting a lower rate. If this sounds familiar, I posted about this in another topic about secured debt vs unsecured debt.
30 year ARM currently at 4.75% for another 15 months. Then it may go as high as 5.75% for 2 more years. Was at 3.75% for the first 2 years.
The margin is 2.5% plus 1 year constant maturity treasury. Rate adjusts up to 1% on every 2 year anniversary. Max of 12% or something.
I did an analysis on this loan versus the going rate for 15 and 30 year fixed loans at the time. The breakeven point for the ARM loan was 12 years. As long as I pay it off by then, I come out ahead. And there is the gamble on rates I made - 12 years was a worst case scenario. 1 year CMT rates could stay low, and I come out way ahead with an ARM. Or long term rates could stay low, and I could refi at some point in the future and come out ahead.
I also got the added bonus of dirt cheap closing costs, no appraisal required (stated value from some zillow.com-like database), and no PMI on a 90% loan. Gotta love credit unions!
I cashed out as much as I could and dumped it in the market back in mid-2004. Turns out it was a pretty good bet.
If I was going to redo my financing today, the numbers are different and I'd choose a fixed rate loan. I may refinance before next July when the rates go up on my ARM.
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