I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

"Otis McNatt" wrote in message
om...
This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

35K is a small amount. Mortgage brokers and such will not be interested,
particularly for a no cost (no points, no fees) loan, since the money they
make comes form a percent of the loan amount. You best bet would be a bank
or an institution like ditech or eloan (no personal experience with the
latter two).
You have to figure out what your objective is. Is it to make a smaller
payment, pay off sooner, or take money out. Assuming it is not the last
option, let us run some numbers.
At 45k and a 15 year loan @7.375% your payment is $413.97. Your current
balance is $ 35k. If you make payemenst at 413.97+50= 463.97, you will
payoff the loan in approx 102 payments (8.5 years).
You may be able to get a loan for about 5.25% + a flat fee of $ 2000 (worst
case). So your principal is $ 37k@ 5.25% whcih works out to a payment of $
450.46 assuming you payoff in 8.5 years, You save $ 13.50 approx per month.
If you continue to make the same payments of 463.97 you will payoff the loan
in approx 98 payments , about 6 months earlier than your current payoff.
If you extend the loan to a 15 year term then your payment will be $ 297.43
a savings of $ 166.54 per month.

Actual numbers will depend on the rate and costs that you can get. It is
your move counselor!

"Otis McNatt" wrote in message
om...
This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

35K is a small amount. Mortgage brokers and such will not be interested,
particularly for a no cost (no points, no fees) loan, since the money they
make comes form a percent of the loan amount. You best bet would be a bank
or an institution like ditech or eloan (no personal experience with the
latter two).
You have to figure out what your objective is. Is it to make a smaller
payment, pay off sooner, or take money out. Assuming it is not the last
option, let us run some numbers.
At 45k and a 15 year loan @7.375% your payment is $413.97. Your current
balance is $ 35k. If you make payemenst at 413.97+50= 463.97, you will
payoff the loan in approx 102 payments (8.5 years).
You may be able to get a loan for about 5.25% + a flat fee of $ 2000 (worst
case). So your principal is $ 37k@ 5.25% whcih works out to a payment of $
450.46 assuming you payoff in 8.5 years, You save $ 13.50 approx per month.
If you continue to make the same payments of 463.97 you will payoff the loan
in approx 98 payments , about 6 months earlier than your current payoff.
If you extend the loan to a 15 year term then your payment will be $ 297.43
a savings of $ 166.54 per month.

Actual numbers will depend on the rate and costs that you can get. It is
your move counselor!

"Otis McNatt" wrote in message
om...
This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

35K is a small amount. Mortgage brokers and such will not be interested,
particularly for a no cost (no points, no fees) loan, since the money they
make comes form a percent of the loan amount. You best bet would be a bank
or an institution like ditech or eloan (no personal experience with the
latter two).
You have to figure out what your objective is. Is it to make a smaller
payment, pay off sooner, or take money out. Assuming it is not the last
option, let us run some numbers.
At 45k and a 15 year loan @7.375% your payment is $413.97. Your current
balance is $ 35k. If you make payemenst at 413.97+50= 463.97, you will
payoff the loan in approx 102 payments (8.5 years).
You may be able to get a loan for about 5.25% + a flat fee of $ 2000 (worst
case). So your principal is $ 37k@ 5.25% whcih works out to a payment of $
450.46 assuming you payoff in 8.5 years, You save $ 13.50 approx per month.
If you continue to make the same payments of 463.97 you will payoff the loan
in approx 98 payments , about 6 months earlier than your current payoff.
If you extend the loan to a 15 year term then your payment will be $ 297.43
a savings of $ 166.54 per month.

Actual numbers will depend on the rate and costs that you can get. It is
your move counselor!

Otis McNatt wrote in message
. ..
I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

I think you figure incorrectly. If you don't start calling lenders, you
don't know what it will cost.

We recently did a home equity refinance. What happens in essence is that
you take out a home equity loan and use the proceeds to pay off your present
mortgage. Total costs were $75 - no points, no other fees. For that, we
dropped about 2.5 years on the remaining term (from 12.5 years to 10) and
knocked a few bucks ($10-$15) off the monthly payment.

If you can't get low or no fees and closing costs (not fees and costs added
into the mortgage) and reduce the payment and/or decrease the term, it's
probably not worth it. We looked into refinancing two or three time before
this - every time the interest rate was lower than on our first mortgage,
but after fees and closing costs were added in, the total we would have paid
over the remaining term was higher than if we did nothing.

Otis McNatt wrote in message
. ..
I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

I think you figure incorrectly. If you don't start calling lenders, you
don't know what it will cost.

We recently did a home equity refinance. What happens in essence is that
you take out a home equity loan and use the proceeds to pay off your present
mortgage. Total costs were $75 - no points, no other fees. For that, we
dropped about 2.5 years on the remaining term (from 12.5 years to 10) and
knocked a few bucks ($10-$15) off the monthly payment.

If you can't get low or no fees and closing costs (not fees and costs added
into the mortgage) and reduce the payment and/or decrease the term, it's
probably not worth it. We looked into refinancing two or three time before
this - every time the interest rate was lower than on our first mortgage,
but after fees and closing costs were added in, the total we would have paid
over the remaining term was higher than if we did nothing.

Otis McNatt wrote in message
. ..
I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

I think you figure incorrectly. If you don't start calling lenders, you
don't know what it will cost.

We recently did a home equity refinance. What happens in essence is that
you take out a home equity loan and use the proceeds to pay off your present
mortgage. Total costs were $75 - no points, no other fees. For that, we
dropped about 2.5 years on the remaining term (from 12.5 years to 10) and
knocked a few bucks ($10-$15) off the monthly payment.

If you can't get low or no fees and closing costs (not fees and costs added
into the mortgage) and reduce the payment and/or decrease the term, it's
probably not worth it. We looked into refinancing two or three time before
this - every time the interest rate was lower than on our first mortgage,
but after fees and closing costs were added in, the total we would have paid
over the remaining term was higher than if we did nothing.

"Vijay Kumar" wrote in message ...

You have to figure out what your objective is. Is it to make a smaller
payment, pay off sooner, or take money out.

My objective is to pay less overall in paying off the home loan, and with
your scenario below, it appears I'd save about $1400 overall at least, which
is $1400 of real money. I think I'll look into it. Thanks!

Assuming it is not the last
option, let us run some numbers.
At 45k and a 15 year loan @7.375% your payment is $413.97. Your current
balance is $ 35k. If you make payemenst at 413.97+50= 463.97, you will
payoff the loan in approx 102 payments (8.5 years).
You may be able to get a loan for about 5.25% + a flat fee of $ 2000 (worst
case). So your principal is $ 37k@ 5.25% whcih works out to a payment of $
450.46 assuming you payoff in 8.5 years, You save $ 13.50 approx per month.
If you continue to make the same payments of 463.97 you will payoff the loan
in approx 98 payments , about 6 months earlier than your current payoff.
If you extend the loan to a 15 year term then your payment will be $ 297.43
a savings of $ 166.54 per month.

Actual numbers will depend on the rate and costs that you can get. It is
your move counselor!

"Vijay Kumar" wrote in message ...

You have to figure out what your objective is. Is it to make a smaller
payment, pay off sooner, or take money out.

My objective is to pay less overall in paying off the home loan, and with
your scenario below, it appears I'd save about $1400 overall at least, which
is $1400 of real money. I think I'll look into it. Thanks!

Assuming it is not the last
option, let us run some numbers.
At 45k and a 15 year loan @7.375% your payment is $413.97. Your current
balance is $ 35k. If you make payemenst at 413.97+50= 463.97, you will
payoff the loan in approx 102 payments (8.5 years).
You may be able to get a loan for about 5.25% + a flat fee of $ 2000 (worst
case). So your principal is $ 37k@ 5.25% whcih works out to a payment of $
450.46 assuming you payoff in 8.5 years, You save $ 13.50 approx per month.
If you continue to make the same payments of 463.97 you will payoff the loan
in approx 98 payments , about 6 months earlier than your current payoff.
If you extend the loan to a 15 year term then your payment will be $ 297.43
a savings of $ 166.54 per month.

Actual numbers will depend on the rate and costs that you can get. It is
your move counselor!

"Vijay Kumar" wrote in message ...

You have to figure out what your objective is. Is it to make a smaller
payment, pay off sooner, or take money out.

My objective is to pay less overall in paying off the home loan, and with
your scenario below, it appears I'd save about $1400 overall at least, which
is $1400 of real money. I think I'll look into it. Thanks!

Assuming it is not the last
option, let us run some numbers.
At 45k and a 15 year loan @7.375% your payment is $413.97. Your current
balance is $ 35k. If you make payemenst at 413.97+50= 463.97, you will
payoff the loan in approx 102 payments (8.5 years).
You may be able to get a loan for about 5.25% + a flat fee of $ 2000 (worst
case). So your principal is $ 37k@ 5.25% whcih works out to a payment of $
450.46 assuming you payoff in 8.5 years, You save $ 13.50 approx per month.
If you continue to make the same payments of 463.97 you will payoff the loan
in approx 98 payments , about 6 months earlier than your current payoff.
If you extend the loan to a 15 year term then your payment will be $ 297.43
a savings of $ 166.54 per month.

Actual numbers will depend on the rate and costs that you can get. It is
your move counselor!

I recently refinanced a mortgage AND a home equity loan (both at about
7.5%) for a total of $35,000 at a fixed rate of 4.80 for 5 years; I
used this to pay off both. The loan was called a 1st lien position.
Only $100 closing costs, and this was at a local bank. I qualifed for
this because I had good credit and a lot of equity in my home. I had
not realized I could do this until I read a column in the newspaper
about it; I thought the only thing I could do was refinance with
closing costs of a couple thousand bucks, which of course I wasn't
about to do.



(Otis McNatt) wrote in message . com...
I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

I recently refinanced a mortgage AND a home equity loan (both at about
7.5%) for a total of $35,000 at a fixed rate of 4.80 for 5 years; I
used this to pay off both. The loan was called a 1st lien position.
Only $100 closing costs, and this was at a local bank. I qualifed for
this because I had good credit and a lot of equity in my home. I had
not realized I could do this until I read a column in the newspaper
about it; I thought the only thing I could do was refinance with
closing costs of a couple thousand bucks, which of course I wasn't
about to do.



(Otis McNatt) wrote in message . com...
I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

I recently refinanced a mortgage AND a home equity loan (both at about
7.5%) for a total of $35,000 at a fixed rate of 4.80 for 5 years; I
used this to pay off both. The loan was called a 1st lien position.
Only $100 closing costs, and this was at a local bank. I qualifed for
this because I had good credit and a lot of equity in my home. I had
not realized I could do this until I read a column in the newspaper
about it; I thought the only thing I could do was refinance with
closing costs of a couple thousand bucks, which of course I wasn't
about to do.



(Otis McNatt) wrote in message . com...
I have a mortgage, but this is an area of life that I'm
not much up on. I heard a bit on a consumer show yesterday
about (and I think I got this right) a "no closing cost home
equity refinance." A woman caller asked about this and the host
said she should consider one; and her situation was that she only
had a principal now of about $17k, with only about 42 months
left on it, with an interest rate of 7%. He said something about
her being able to get a refi at around 4% at present, and something
about it probably staying at that level for most of the time she
had left, with it possible going up later, etc.

This got me to thinking. My situation is that I have a principal
of about $35k, with about 8½ years left (I've been paying an extra
$50/month for the past 3½ years onto the principal). My fixed rate
is 7.375%, and this was a 15-year mortgage (I made a pretty big
down payment, btw). The amount I borrowed was only $45k.
So, can some of you here enlighten me some on this? I figured it's
better to get advice from ordinary consumers and homeowners than
to start calling lenders. Heck, some of you are probably experts
on this. Thanks to anyone who wants to give useful and accurate feedback.
Should I consider looking into this?

---
O. McNatt

"Otis McNatt" wrote...

My objective is to pay less overall in paying off the home loan, and with
your scenario below, it appears I'd save about $1400 overall at least, which
is $1400 of real money. I think I'll look into it. Thanks!

To pay the least "overall," you would pay if off in full NOW.

Since that is not apparently one of your options, you have to figure out whether
it would be more advantageous to simply make a higher monthly payment on your
current loan, or to incur the up-front costs and/or principal increase in a
re-fi.

You will have to research the possibilities available to YOU, because the
theoretical scenarios given may not be available to you in the real world.

"Otis McNatt" wrote...

My objective is to pay less overall in paying off the home loan, and with
your scenario below, it appears I'd save about $1400 overall at least, which
is $1400 of real money. I think I'll look into it. Thanks!

To pay the least "overall," you would pay if off in full NOW.

Since that is not apparently one of your options, you have to figure out whether
it would be more advantageous to simply make a higher monthly payment on your
current loan, or to incur the up-front costs and/or principal increase in a
re-fi.

You will have to research the possibilities available to YOU, because the
theoretical scenarios given may not be available to you in the real world.

"Otis McNatt" wrote...

My objective is to pay less overall in paying off the home loan, and with
your scenario below, it appears I'd save about $1400 overall at least, which
is $1400 of real money. I think I'll look into it. Thanks!

To pay the least "overall," you would pay if off in full NOW.

Since that is not apparently one of your options, you have to figure out whether
it would be more advantageous to simply make a higher monthly payment on your
current loan, or to incur the up-front costs and/or principal increase in a
re-fi.

You will have to research the possibilities available to YOU, because the
theoretical scenarios given may not be available to you in the real world.

George D wrote:

I close on a refinance on Monday. The purpose was to reduce the interest rate, no money out no
lengthening or shortening of the term. We refinanced 6.25% to 5.23% with Bank One. Total closing
costs $95.00 and no points. I don't know what it did to the payment yet but it has to be some lower.

You probably have already verified it, but make sure that there are no
prepayment restrictions or penalties tossed in at the signing. Them's walking
words.

wrote:

George D wrote:

I close on a refinance on Monday. The purpose was to reduce the interest rate, no money out no
lengthening or shortening of the term. We refinanced 6.25% to 5.23% with Bank One. Total closing
costs $95.00 and no points. I don't know what it did to the payment yet but it has to be some lower.

You probably have already verified it, but make sure that there are no
prepayment restrictions or penalties tossed in at the signing. Them's walking
words.


$500.00 prepayment penalty if paid off in full before 2 1/2 years. I have lived here for 30 years
and I am planning on living here for the rest of my life so that is not a problem.

Better not be any suprises on closing. I know everybody in that branch and I can raise H---.


--
George D
Phoenix, AZ

AAA, AARP, ANA, NRA, RCC ?+1, PIA, PIAAZ, GATF 85006-3032-18-4

The reward for a good deed is to have done it.

Please use this address to mail me. Or remove the arizona in the link.
Remember there is no Arizona.


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