Refinancing - can I do qualify? Any advice?

Financial Planning - Financial planning in general. (Moderated) 

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Subject Author Date Refinancing - can I do qualify? Any advice? Justin 01-30-2008  Re: Refinancing - can I do qualify? Any advice? joetaxpayer 01-30-2008  Re: Refinancing - can I do qualify? Any advice? jIM 01-31-2008
Posted by Justin on January 30, 2008, 6:24 pm I bought a home last year in July (2007). I closed the week the first big news of the mortgage problems started arising. I purchased a $290k house, and had $10k worth of closing costs built into a loan that was a 30-year fixed for $250k at 9.5 and $50k interest only for 15 years at 11%. I have pretty good credit (Fico around 750), but I got hosed because it was a 2-family and it was based on stated income (including future rental income). I have been in the house now for 7 months, I have had a paying tenant in the second unit for 6 months, and have made many improvments to the property. My math shows that if I could refinance even the one large loan ($250k) at a rate of 7.5 it would save me almost $5k a year. Countrywide (my current lender) said they won't touch it unless I've been in the house at least a year, is this a gerneral rule of thumb for most lenders, or just lenders you currently have a loan with? Is it ever "too soon" to refinance? Waiting until the 1-year mark wouldn't be the worst thing, I'll likely be making more money by that time of year, and will have a solid year of rental income shown in my accounting. Any advice would be greartly apprecaited, just feeling out my options. Thanks, Justin Posted by joetaxpayer on January 30, 2008, 7:19 pm Justin wrote: > I bought a home last year in July (2007). I closed the week the first > big news of the mortgage problems started arising. > > I purchased a $290k house, and had $10k worth of closing costs built > into a loan that was a 30-year fixed for $250k at 9.5 and $50k > interest only for 15 years at 11%. I'm more concerned about you being so close to 100% LTV or worse if the house dropped a bit. If, by chance, you got a 6% 30 yr fixed, you'd save over $800. There's little magic about the one year mark, but the bank has no interest in negotiating since you are not in trouble. I would do my damnedest to aggressively pay down that $50K. And there's no harm in walking in to the local owned bank, if there's one nearby, and sit with someone. You haven't mentioned your income, debt to income becomes a big part of the picture. JOE Posted by jIM on January 31, 2008, 9:14 am > I bought a home last year in July (2007). I closed the week the first > big news of the mortgage problems started arising. > > I purchased a $290k house, and had $10k worth of closing costs built > into a loan that was a 30-year fixed for $250k at 9.5 and $50k > interest only for 15 years at 11%. > > I have pretty good credit (Fico around 750), but I got hosed because > it was a 2-family and it was based on stated income (including future > rental income). > > I have been in the house now for 7 months, I have had a paying tenant > in the second unit for 6 months, and have made many improvments to the > property. > > > Is it ever "too soon" to refinance? > NO. I bought new in Dec of 05, and refinanced in June of 06, 6 months later. Our refi has already paid for itself based on closing costs. My goal is to lower my payment 8% with any refinanace (that saves me 1 payment per year). I also try to keep the same repayment period as original loan (note you would have a lower payment now, even if rate was the same based on principal already paid and increasing of the term). If you can save 8% keeping the same term, the deal is even better. Similar Threads Posted The costs of refinancing January 24, 2008, 12:41 pm mortgage refinancing April 5, 2008, 9:46 pm Refinancing Strategies April 8, 2008, 1:50 pm Refinancing a rental home,help with estimating the amount April 12, 2007, 4:55 am A little advice... March 12, 2007, 10:53 am need advice October 19, 2007, 5:01 am Investing advice March 30, 2007, 4:12 pm investing advice February 24, 2007, 4:43 am Need Advice as to Which Loan to Pay Down March 6, 2007, 4:07 pm SEEKING ADVICE (PLEASE HELP) May 15, 2007, 5:01 am