ejchase
4-9-12, 7:03pm
Hi All,
I bought a home about a year ago and am thinking about refinancing while interest rates are low. The first time I bought a house (back in 2001, in another state), I had all this time off from work, a fantastically patient real estate agent, and a copy of Homebuying for Dummies, all of which allowed me to kind of actually understand the process. Last year when I bought, I was seven months pregnant and had a real estate agent who was not very patient with my questions, so I kind of went through the process on automatic pilot which was was probably pretty stupid. Now that I'm thinking about refinancing, I'm at a loss as to how to figure out the following:
a. How much of an interest rate drop would make it "worth it" for me to do the refi? Our current rate is 4.75%, and we put 20% down. The quotes I've gotten have been for around 3.9%.
b. What other factors should I be considering as I make this decision and why? We plan to be in this house for at least 10 years, and we are broke, so a lower payment would be great.
If anybody here can give me answers to these questions - or can connect me to a resource that can - that would be great. Homebuying for Dummies doesn't have much info on refinancing.
Many thanks in advance,
Elizabeth
I bought a home about a year ago and am thinking about refinancing while interest rates are low. The first time I bought a house (back in 2001, in another state), I had all this time off from work, a fantastically patient real estate agent, and a copy of Homebuying for Dummies, all of which allowed me to kind of actually understand the process. Last year when I bought, I was seven months pregnant and had a real estate agent who was not very patient with my questions, so I kind of went through the process on automatic pilot which was was probably pretty stupid. Now that I'm thinking about refinancing, I'm at a loss as to how to figure out the following:
a. How much of an interest rate drop would make it "worth it" for me to do the refi? Our current rate is 4.75%, and we put 20% down. The quotes I've gotten have been for around 3.9%.
b. What other factors should I be considering as I make this decision and why? We plan to be in this house for at least 10 years, and we are broke, so a lower payment would be great.
If anybody here can give me answers to these questions - or can connect me to a resource that can - that would be great. Homebuying for Dummies doesn't have much info on refinancing.
Many thanks in advance,
Elizabeth