It may be even harder to finance a rental than a primary residence. The thinking goes that you're more likely to keep your residence if things get rough financially, but a rental is much easier to walk away from.

 

locked at 4.25% at the primary.

still stuck in the mud at the rental. no one wants to touch it.

 

YES! If you're looking into a refi DO IT BEFORE YOU LEAVE. Once it's owner unoccupied no one will touch your loan with a 10 foot pole unless you have 20% equity it seems.

 

Brian, I have worked with the same mortgage broker in Massachusetts for decades. But I always check around to see if I can do better elsewhere. I suggest you find a reputable mortgage broker in your area. They seem to have lower rates than the banks, which have greater overhead.

Remeber that 95% of home mortgages are sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the closing. the bank that stays on the note does the servicing of the loan. The servicing often gets sold too. In other words, if you go to a bank to get a loan, you may find yourself doing business with someone else in a year down the road.

Some banks and credit unions will hold the paper or at least the servicing long term, but really, who cares? Unless you think your local bank would cut you some slack if you fell behind in your payments (good luck with that), I don't see any benefit.

 

I re-financed with Citi Bank before they went basically belly up then bailed out. Reason for it was that I could get reward points for having Mortgage, Savings, Checking, Credit Card etc. all with one bank. So I save those up and get $100 gift cards every couple months. Pretty cool stuff. That might be a reason to go with a bank vs. broker........for us it made sense.

Oh and Bill. I see what your saying on the surface but if you do the math out it really doesn't work out. I just re-financed and already have 2-3 more years to makeup for that "savings". Plus your pushing out payments X Months more. So if you already paid thousands for the past year(s) mostly interest, now pushing out loan for 30 years starting all over with interest payments. Add that all up and the rule of diminishing returns is there!

Here is how I figure it.
Say I would save 100 bucks a month but you just extended your loan out another year or more. So say I am paying 1,000 a month that's 12,000 dollars more you will now pay. So that would take you over 12 years to make up! Plus tack on to that any lawyers fees, re-appraisal fees, and any other carry over that you had from your last re-finance. That's then not even accounting for the previous payments you already made!

 

bill i went to to three local banks/credit unions and all have closeing costs wanna toss a lead on your broker lol. gunna see what lending tree has next.... but looks like i can cut about 10 years off my morg and keep the same payment.

 

That is only true if you are going to keep the car and the loan for the full term of the mortgage. If you are going to sell and get a bigger house, all you really care about now is lowering the payment.

 

Deals seem to be all around. Recently saw a 7/1 arm through ING at 2.99%, plus they were going to throw 1K to the closing costs. Was able to re fi a rental recently and knock off 7 years and $30 but had to make 80% equity and pay out a bit. With the slump in prices it seemed worth it because we have a good rental history and prices seem like they will take a while to rebound. More equity every month!

 

Wouldn't it be better to refi and keep paying the higher current mortgage payment therefore reducing the time to pay off?

I am thinking of doing a 3/1 arm for 3% since I only have 2 more years left to pay off. I am currently set at 5%. Nov 2012 break out the champagne!!!

 

You can do whatever suits your situation, George. The point is, a lower rate means less money being paid in interest. the rest is up to your imagination.