Refinance - What's a Good Rate Today?

[pimpmyretirement]

Was quoted 3.25% on a 10 year loan. Only expense is $360 for the appraisal.

Is that good? Should I be holding out for more?

[Animorph]

Look up rates at www.bankrate.com as a start.

My 2009 refi was through www.aimloan.com . I got the rate they quoted. You can enter some data on the front page and get a quick but more specific quote without entering personal info beyond state and county. Looks like 3.25% is what they're saying today.

[ER Man]

I thought they have 2.99% also?

[WanderALot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pimpmyretirement Was quoted 3.25% on a 10 year loan. Only expense is $360 for the appraisal. Is that good? Should I be holding out for more?

We just started the loan paperwork through our credit union for the same rate with no costs. I think that's a pretty good rate. I shopped around and wasn't able to beat that rate anywhere. A few places (such as CashCallMortgage.com) had the same rate but I rather deal with my CU. Our LTV is relatively low so they aren't doing a full appraisal so that probably helps the cost factor.

[pimpmyretirement]

We'll have to bring money to the closing to get our equity up to 20% (again... 2 years ago we had to bring $30k so we could refinance with 20% equity), so the bank cares about the appraisal.

I've been watching the bankrate site animorph linked to and haven't seen anything better than the 3.25%. Our broker has instructions to lock the offer in when rates dip back. I initially asked him to wait a few days to see if they'd go lower...

I saw another thread where someone is getting 3% on a 5 year loan. I could handle a 5 year loan on our current income, but life would get extremely hard if there was a job loss. I think the extra .25% is worth the flexibility having a 10 year loan provides in my case.

[Milkman]

If you are considering a 5 year loan but are uncomfortable with it, look at a 7 year ARM. We just locked in one at 2.875%. It is based on a 30 year loan but the 7 year rate is locked in. Our montly piti went from $1650 on a 5% - 15 year loan to $875. We will prepay and pay off the loan within the 7 year period.

Milkman

[pimpmyretirement]

That's a great rate on the 7 year ARM. Who's the lender? Did you have to pay any fees or closing costs?

My broker wanted to shy away from the ARMs for some reason. The difference of .375% would be worth about $2k to me over 7 years. The ARMs I have seen have significantly higher closing costs than the $360 I was quoted for the 10 year loan. From what I could tell, they pretty much eliminate the benefit of the lower rates.

[Milkman]

Wells Fargo is the lender. And yes I am getting knicked on closing costs, but my pay back will be less than a year. I did shop around and this was the best deal I could get.

Milkman

[Nords]

We've already nailed down our home mortgage (3.625% @ 30 years) but I wouldn't mind a lower rate on our rental property. That has a 4.625% 30-year mortgage.

When I search Bankrate for Hawaii loans the only lender that comes up is "AmeriSave", which seems to have a teaser rate. Bankrate also doesn't sort for "investor mortgages", which are usually a higher interest rate.

After over a decade of refinancings (and nearly a dozen closings) it looks like we may finally be done. And this time I really mean it!

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords We've already nailed down our home mortgage (3.625% @ 30 years) but I wouldn't mind a lower rate on our rental property. That has a 4.625% 30-year mortgage. When I search Bankrate for Hawaii loans the only lender that comes up is "AmeriSave", which seems to have a teaser rate. Bankrate also doesn't sort for "investor mortgages", which are usually a higher interest rate. After over a decade of refinancings (and nearly a dozen closings) it looks like we may finally be done. And this time I really mean it!

Nords, did you have to buy any points to get to that rate? I'm sitting at 5% on a 100k mortgage. It seems like I need to get under 4 to make it worth my time since I'm not 100% sure I will be in this house 10 years from now.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Nords, did you have to buy any points to get to that rate? I'm sitting at 5% on a 100k mortgage. It seems like I need to get under 4 to make it worth my time since I'm not 100% sure I will be in this house 10 years from now.

Oh, yeah.

We paid points on the home mortgage last Nov (1% origination fee plus 1.125 points http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...nce-53681.html).

In Oct 2009 we paid 2.175% on the rental property refi, which was probably 1% origination and 1.175 points (http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...tml#post862859).

But both loans dropped our payments enough to keep the payback to within a few years. If your horizon is truly 10 years then you could do the points math to see if it'll save you a few bucks.

[WanderALot]

PenFed's 5/5 ARM went down to 3.375 and they now have a new product called the 3/5 ARM. It's rate is 3.0%.

We just finished signing the docs for our 3.25%/10 yr loan tonight and I was logging into PenFed to turn off my automatic payments on my old loan when I saw these new rates!

[kaudrey]

I closed on mine last month - a 3.375% 15-year fixed. No points, only fee was the appraisal. I was happy with it. Got me down from 4.875%.

[FUEGO]

I recently started the process at ING Direct to refi our 2.99% rate into a 2.55% rate. Fixed for 5 years, then balloon payment but our intent is to pay off within the 5 years, roughly coinciding with when we will be FI. I think their rates for their 5 year balloon (Easy Orange) and 5/1 ARM are slightly under 3% with fairly low closing costs.

I just got my parents hooked up with a penfed refi on a 10 year loan at 3.00% but there were some closing costs involved (including their 1% origination fee). Same rate is still available by buying it down with 1/8% discount point.