On Aug 27, 8:02*pm, "cshenk" wrote:
"h" wrote

"cshenk" wrote in message
Holt crap! I refinanced less than $25k 2 years ago for 4.25%. I still went
with a credit card last year for a"loan" of $28k since I could get that at
3.99% instead of 4.25%. Why are you paying nearly twice that? Mine is
fixed also. I'm in upstate NY, with the highest taxes/assessments in the
nation, too.

Probably a matter of timing involved. *This is in last 6 months. *Possibly
didnt find the right folks either?

We did a similar thing this year. Our mortgage was due for renewal,
and as we renewed we chose to get some cash to replace all of our
windows (17 of them). I think (hope!) this was a sensible decision in
our case; while we only bought our home five years ago, our house is
our only debt. And I'm hopeful that the windows will help with the oil
bill at least a bit this year. Oil here was $1.24 a litre at the end
of the heating season last year (although we were locked in at .87).
Hate to think of what it will be this year.

Plus, our province has a home energy audit program where you pay a fee
for a before and after energy audit. Depending on which of their
recommendations you follow up on to improve energy efficiency, you get
rebates for various amounts. Windows generally get you $30 per unit
from the province, and another $30 from the federal government. $60 a
window x 17 windows helps a bit.

We went from the safety of a fixed rate at 4.69% to a variable rate
this time around. It's a certain percentage below prime for a certain
period, then goes up a bit from that. We pay the same amount each
month, but depending on the current rate, pay more or less toward the
principal. We've increased our bi-weekly payment too, so hopefully the
amount we borrowed will go away sooner rather than later.

KD