Has anybody here refinanced the mortgage on their triangle area home recently? (Raleigh: insurance, mortgage broker)

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

I got what I considered to be a great rate (30 year/fixed) at the time when I purchased my house in North Raleigh back in September 2006. I can easily afford my mortgage, but if I can save myself a few bucks each month I am more than happy to do so. Lately I have been noticing the average rate for the 30/yr fixed going down. While I think the rate needs to go down a little more before it would really be worth my while to refinance I was just curious if others in this area have done the refinance thing recently? I have never refinanced before and am curious what type of fees I should expect to be involved. Obviously I still have a lot of homework to do, but I thought I would start here to see if anybody on this forum could share their refinance experience from here in the Triangle.

Without getting too personal if you are willing to share the ballpark price it cost you to refinance I would appreciate it. I am also curious what rates people are currently getting in the traingle area when refinancing. I don’t really trust the national rate averages posted on certain websites like bankrate because they include rates from a lot of internet banks that I don’t really deem reliable. When and if I do move forward with my refinance plan, I will be talking to the local mortgage broker I worked with when I purchased my house, but if you have any recommendations on local banks or brokers to get GFE’s from in the Triangle area, please feel free to DM me.

FWIW, I understand that there is a lot of personal information specific to the individual that will determine what rate I can get, but I am in a very good position to negotiate the best rate available.

Thanks for the help!

[tluv00]

We just purchased in Dec 07 and I have been considering refinancing a 15 year we have already. We have a decent rate 6% but that was before they started hacking at rates. While we wont be saving a bundle it would take about 3 years to break even on closing costs for a refinance. Not sure if it's worth it yet. Still waiting until the next drop in rates though.

[PDXmom]

I've only refied outside of NC so I'm not going to guess on the out of pocket costs. But generally they say only refi if you plan to be in the home for another 3-5 years, that way you recoup your refi cost. Remember if you have PMI & your house has gone up in value a refi can save you the PMI bucks. Something else to consider if the rates are good, look at a 20 or 15 year fixed mortgage. It probably will be a bit more than what you are paying now. But in the long run you are building equity quicker. Of course, you need to consider your future needs and adjust accordingly.

[sls76]

We refinanced in 12/06 to go from a 30 year at 6.5% to a 20 year at 5.75%. Our closing costs were tiny and we recouped them in one year. We paid about $700 for the appraisal, credit report, committment fee, processing fee, tax service fee and federal flood fee. Other than that our only fees were $400 for the attorney, $500 for title insurance, a $59 recording fee and a $40 express mail charge. Get some Good Faith Estimates, figure out how long you will stay in your current home and decide whether or not it makes sense.

[sundaze]

I remember some time ago seeing a chart on line that included decrease in interest rates and closing costs that gave the amount of interest rates and amount of time in your house that would make refinancing worthwhile. Anyone know the url?

[TiredofMoving]

NRG,

I did a refi with Penfed (Pentagon Federal Credit Union) in late Dec 07. I went for a 5/5 ARM (yes, 5/5, not a typo) @ 5.125%. The closing cost was between 800-1000 (I don't have the HUD-1/GFE with me right now). My original loan was a 30yr fixed @ 6.375% and that loan was a zero closing cost one from the builder's lender.

Penfed takes about 3-4 weeks to do the loan closing and they do not play games with the rate during the closing process. They are very reliable. I would suggest checking penfed.org. They usually post the rate around 11am every day on their website. What you see there is what you get.

Tom

[mfrank2109]

A mortgage broker quoted me 5.5% with no closing costs last week - that was a 30 year. I'll dm you his name and number if you're interested.

[VickiR]

There are two ways to do a re fi.

You can do a typical re fi, with the buyer paying the closing costs. You typically get the lowest rate but have to either pay the closing costs out of pocket or take them out of your equity.

A no-cost re fi is when the mortgage company charges you a small increase in the rate but you have no costs out of pocket.

You have to do the math, remember I don't?!! What is the differene in the two payments? How many months does it take to re coup the closing costs and will you be in the house that long? On the other hand, if you say you are going to be in the house forever, the difference in the rate is how much and how long will it take to re coup that?

You can call a lender and get the good faith estimate done both ways to see which works best for you. That way...they do the math!

Moderator cut: removed

[lottamoxie]

I bought my house in June 2006 and I've got a 30-year fixed for 6.25%. I too am waiting to pull the trigger and re-fi. I've heard that the rate 'should be' down an entire point before doing a re-fi. If that's true, in my case I need it down to 5.25%. I plan to stay in my home at least another 5 years (as long as I remain gainfully employed, that is). If/when I re-fi I will not pay points up front. While I can afford my mortgage and am not paying any PMI, it would be nice to take advantage of the lowest rate I can possibly get on a 30 year fixed.

[weluvwakeforest]

Another option is to pre pay your mortgage... with the extra going straight to the principal...