5 Points to Consider When Refinancing Your Mortgage

Refinancing your mortgage can be important at various points in time to make sure you are saving the most you can from your interest, or can help with managing your monthly repayment requirements. This is particularly the case when interest rates are falling. It is important to thoroughly research your refinance options if you are considering this. Here are 5 points to consider when looking at mortgage refinancing.1. Ensure you thoroughly research your options and the costs and profitability associated with refinancing. As well as obtaining all the necessary information, you can run your various options through an online mortgage refinance calculator to help get an idea of the overall profitability of your various options. Such calculators are useful to see things such as the total interest savings with a refinance option or how long until your interest savings offset the closing costs.2. Before refinancing, you should be familiar with the various types of mortgages that you can use to refinance. Such types include fixed rate mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages, interest only mortgages and option ARM mortgages to name a few. Different types of mortgages have different properties and you should research which of these suit your needs the most.3. You should be aware of the additional costs associated with refinancing, such as processing fees, appraisal, escrow fees and so on. Some of these fees may be negotiable with the lender so you should always explore the option of reducing your fees associated with the mortgage.4. One option to consider when refinancing is a cash out refinance. This when the equity in your home allows you to refinance with a principle greater than your current mortgage (as well as any additional refinancing costs). You can then use this extra money as you see fit. A common use of this may be to consolidate higher interest debts.5. Another type of refinance option is a no cost refinance. Here the lender or broker pays any closing costs associated with the refinancing in exchange for charging a higher interest rate. Instead of this, it is also possible to add the closing costs to your new principle, or pay them upfront yourself.