feds rate cut, whens a good time to refinance house?

I wasn't aware that it was going to drop below the 6 it is at now. Sounds to me like you already have a good loan... What are you looking to change it too and why?

How long have you had your loan? Resetting it is stupid cause you start the interest over each time and you don't build equity.

just looking for opportunities to save $$$. i know that once int. rates reach a certain level, you can refinance to save money each month. im just wondering when/if that point will come soon for me

Start the interest over, um and that's bad how?
Don't build equity? huh WTF? You do know how equity is built right?

I am really hoping you think the only way to refinance a house is to take cash out as a loan. Otherwise, well...

To original poster - if you can assure a half point is when you can do full math and consider it. If it is 2 points then it is a damn good time too.
This assumes you will stay in house longer than 2 years, there is no ugly fine print, they are fixed rates, and there are no early prepayment clauses in your current mortgage. Still the math could justify some, but really crunch the numbers.

bump, agent jusrt called me with a rate of .5 lower than im paying now, im holding out until it hits 1% below

I sent this question to a real estate friend of mine last week:

I was looking to refinance, when is a good time, since they seem to lower every month lately?

Per my real estate friend in my in box: Yes they are coming down. But the goverment is working on a program for everyone to refi with no cost they are trying to get it to pass next year. 50/50 what to do. I think I am going to wait...

I have my license. The Govt may be pushing out a primary / first time buyers rate of 4.5% to try to stimulate the economy. They may be doing this in January.

already see them as low as 4.875 at some lenders

You know what you do, you buy gold... proof that the US FED fucked the world economy and it is now in grid lock... no one wants to borrow, lend or invest in fuck all because USA is too corrupt... just take a look at what Madoff got away with, yes he is in jail now, but because he and so many others were allowed to be so corrupt for so long, they have ruined it for everyone else...



deflation, happening now, hyper inflation and the great dpression #2 is here boys, just make it work for you!

/rant, yes it is a bit, but it still has truth to it...

Ditto what others said ... wait a bit longer ... shoot for 4.5%.

Be very wary of who you finance with - lots of shysters taking advantage of the confusion; many add lots of fees on / fudge the numbers to hide the true costs.

If you have a steady job / earnings history and solid credit try to go with a local bank / credit union - ideally, one that owns and services all their loans...

Many larger financial institutions sell their loans to others, which can make matters more complicated later on; less flexibility.

The interest rate is only part of the calculation. Closing costs and points can rapidly wipe out the savings.

If you have decent equity, don't take any cash out, but instead consider refinancing to a 15 or 20 year loan ... assuming you plan to stay in your home for at least another five years or so...

20 years may be ideal if you seeking to keep payments about the same as they are now.

A traditional 30 year is ideal (don't go longer than that), if you desire maximum flexibility with small minimum payments.

A 30 year can become much shorter by voluntarily paying more when money allows, such as paying more and/or extra payments occasionally.

Point is that with 30 year term, you get to decide when you want to pay more whereas with shorter terms, you're locked-in to larger payments from the getgo.

Lots of options - don't rush into anything, since there's plenty of time to get a good rate.

Ron

great post, thanks for the good advice

wait until the interest rate is -1%, not too soon the fed will add on extra cash if you lend some from them

you probably don't even own a fucking house

idiot

The fed rate cut wasn't for home lending, I don't think you can get a much lower rate than you have right now. The cut was for banks lending banks money, so it looks like banks have activity when really everything is just at a stand still.

This might not be an issue for you, but you should check to make sure you are actually able to refinance, that is that you are not "upside down" on your current loan...

most of the fed rate cuts actually don't even make it to us. These days its the banks trying to recover losses from old risky loan fuckups.

Hold out for at least a 1% cut and seriously wait a bit longer... within the next 6mnths the government will be handing out home loans like crazy to stimulate the entire economy. The housing market is still sinking like a rock.

I've been working out the math and it basically will be worth it for me to max out my credit cards, quit paying my mortgage and end up using my wifes credit to get one of the sweet first time home buyers offers AND get a nicer house than I'm currently in all while having LOWER payments. Then eventually file for bankruptcy. If you rack up tons of charges and pay the minimum for a year or so you get everything whiped away!

In addition, many banks are requiring you also have 25% equity that you keep in the house (i.e. after the refi you would only owe 75% of the CURRENT home value) to get decent rates in the recent market. I've even heard some banks requiring 50% equity.

Personally I think most of the $$$ at the lower rates will go to those buying new homes or homes that have been foreclosed on, not refinancing.

This is a great little calculator to help you figure out the true costs of refinancing. I used it when I was refinancing to figure out the differences in all the loans I was being offered and found it really helpful.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calc_vml/refi/refi.asp

its more of an issue than i thought it would be, not upside down, but im still a few % points away from having the 20% in equity needed to not get mortgage ins.

much different than the 200k in equity i had 2-3 years ago ;(((

for me i wouldn't buy gold. there's alot of other places to park your (extra) cash and are much better too. but yeah US dollar is pretty fucked.