I just bought my house a few years ago so refinancing won’t really help, right?
Whew. Loaded question. But, maybe!!
Here’s the deal. There’s more to refinancing than just getting better interest rates. If you were asking me this question, the first thing I would ask you is “What do you need right now?”
If your answer is you want to save money monthly, I’d say cool, let’s do it.
There are multiple ways you could save money monthly even if you just purchased your home a few years ago. At first sight, you might not see a huge difference with a slightly lower interest rate. But, it’s all about how you look at the opportunities 😊
Did your home’s value increase over the last few years? If it did like a lot of other homes across the country, you might be able to drop what’s called private mortgage insurance. Lenders include this in your monthly mortgage payment when you put down less than a 20% down-payment when you buy your house. That part of your payment doesn’t go towards paying down your mortgage balance. Ask your mortgage loan originator about that because you may be paying it when you don’t need to.
Another very snazzy trick is to look into paying off credit cards, car loans, or personal loans while you refinance. How does this help? A lot of the time, the monthly payment you’re making on those cards or loans is going to be a higher total monthly bill than your new mortgage payment will be if you pay them off in the refinance.
I love a good example. So, shall we…
Say you currently have a mortgage payment of $800 and you pay a minimum payment of $300 on your credit cards every month. But you decide to refinance and pay off your current mortgage and credit cards during the process. Your new monthly mortgage payment is now $850. So, instead of paying $1,100 a month for your mortgage and credit card payments total, you’re now just paying $850 and saving $250 a month.
Now, the haters are going to say “BuT yOu StReTcHeD oUt ThAt CrEdIt CaRd BaLaNcE oVeR tHe EnTiRe mOrTgAgE tErM”. I mean, it’s a valid point. But if you NEED an extra $250 a month for life’s essentials now, then you need that $250. That’s your priority right now. You can always adjust your plan down the road.
The point here is that you may still be able to benefit from refinancing your home even if you just purchased it. It’s worth talking with a mortgage loan originator like me to see if it could help your short-term and long-term goals.
If you’re in Indiana, Michigan, or Florida and want to see if it’d be right for you, fill out the form below and I’ll contact you to chat about the details.
upturnavenue.com 