When's the right time to refinance your home?

When's the right time to refinance your home?

Your current mortgage may suddenly become more expensive than a new loan with a lower rate. You may just want to lower your monthly payment or tap some of the equity you've built up. Or you may want to change loans altogether, switching from a 30-year to a 15-year loan term or from an adjustable to a fixed interest rate. Even if you don't think you're ready to refinance now, it doesn't hurt to check your numbers and look at current loan rates. The lower your new interest rate, the less it will cost you to refinance, and the longer you plan to hold your new loan, the more likely it is that you'll save significantly in the long run.

To recoup the cost of refinancing and achieve real savings, you need a realistic estimate of how long you'll stay in your house. Consider all possibilities, such as whether your job could change or if you could be transferred. Then do the math. For example, on a 30-year $120,000 loan at 7 percent, you could save about $20 a month for every quarter-point reduction in interest. If your new rate is 1.5 percent less than what you currently pay, that could mean saving as much as $120 a month, or $43,200 over the life of your loan. You may only plan to stay in your house five years, though, which means you would save only $7,200. If it costs you $4,000 to refinance your loan, your total savings then drops to $3,200. If you stay in the house only three years, you save even less. Assess your time frame realistically. It will help you know whether refinancing is for you, and also help you choose the right loan.

Refinancing can be an effective savings tool if you want to trim your monthly payment or cut the overall interest you pay on your loan, especially if you match your new loan to the amount of time you plan to keep your house. For example, if you keep your house a long time, refinancing from an adjustable-rate loan to a fixed-rate loan could save you significantly over the long run. If you are comfortable with your current mortgage payment and you plan to keep the house a while, refinancing from a 30-year loan to a 15-year loan could cut your overall interest payments and build your equity faster. The tradeoff is this: while the rate will be around 0.25 percent lower on a 15-year loan, the payment (figured on a shorter term) will be about one-third larger. On the other hand, if you stay in your house only three to five years, you may want to look at adjustable-rate or balloon-payment loans so you can take advantage of the even lower rates these loans carry in the early part of their terms.

Thank you for reading my blog. Email me if you have any questions kevin@bluefinancialgroup.com