We refinanced our house one time since we bought it. The rate was 4.5% fixed for 30 years and with FHA, PMI was $295/month. My broker called a month ago and recommended me to refinance before the rates goes up sometimes next year. We have one more year of the PMI and we could get the rate down to 3.75% no cost, no fees on NON conforming loan (between $417k and 721k amount). The amounts are different dependent upon banks in California, but the bottom line is if the loan make sense to do after we already paid for 4 years.
Actually my broker couldn’t do 3.75% because of the loan amount, but the good people from loandepot.com could.
Again, we did calculate to see if it make sense to do the loan. Our criteria are:
– Interest total per year must be lower than what we’re paying with the current loan.
– The loan amount must be the same as the pay off amount – since it’s no cost, no fees.
– The total sum of new 30 years =< 26 years of old loan.
– Monthly payment must be significantly lower.
The new 30 years 3.75% loan is better than the current 26 years 4.5% loan. We will be saving about $800 a month this year and $400/month the year after (PMI). The important thing is the monthly payment is more affordable for average income people like us. BTW, there is no more ASSUMABLE loan exists anywhere, therefore, when our kids grow up and they want to buy our house (since they love it so much now), they can assume the loan, but I’m sure they can take over the current payment if they have good jobs.
Loandepot.com from Southern California was extremely efficient, they get our loan done in 3 weeks. Very straight forward and honest. I had to help them to speed up the process by contacting some loan department that didn’t report “CLOSED” although “PAID”. Also I had to call the home owner insurance lady to fax over the policy. It’s good to have an insurance agent that really works.
In order to help the loan people to do their job quickly, we are the clients, should prepare needed documents as quickly as possible.
-Copies of 2 paychecks.
-Copies of 2 months bank statements + stock brokers.
-Copies of 2 years tax returns + w2’s.
-Copies of drivers license & passports.
-Home insurance.
-Property Tax.
I promised to give loandepot.com a good review if they did good, and they did. It took me a day to read the reviews before I gave them the job. Yes, there are bad reviews, but I do understand if the information the customers gave out weren’t correct or honest. Our loan went through without a hitch.
The persons we’ve interacted with:
Sarge Singh, and Frank Tang.
Hopefully we don’t need to refinance again.