Homeowners today don’t give a second thought before refinancing their home loan every time interest rates fall. People while trying to refinance don’t wait to consider if it’s a good or a bad idea. Moreover they always fail to look at the bigger picture. Refinancing home loans is a common practice today and you need to look into each and every detail before you take out another mortgage loan. Before we go any further let us understand what refinancing means:
What is Refinancing?
The original loan secured by a buyer to buy a home is called a purchase-money loan while a refinance loan is taken by a borrower to pay off the amount of the original loan. In case of an individual who continuously refinances his loans every time there is a drop in the interest rates (also called as a Serial Refinancer), the new loan pays off the last loan amount.
Serial Refinancers often go about refinancing their mortgages again and again without realising the fact that every time they refinance, they not only keep on adding more principle toward the end of the loan but also extend the term of the loan.
Kinds of Refinancing
With proper study and research, refinancing home loans can become an easy task. It’s possible to take out a different kind of loan at the time you refinance but is very necessary to understand all that is involved (terms and conditions) in the new loan procedure before you apply for a change. Some common loan types are mentioned below:
Interest Only Mortgage.
Option ARM Mortgage.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage.
FHA Loans.
Reverse Mortgages
Drawbacks of Refinancing
Here are a few:
Costs
Are you paying a certain fees in order to obtain a new loan? Well, fee means money, money which you might not be able to recover through a low interest rate for around a couple of years. Relevant calculations are beyond the scope of this write-up. Go online to refer to specific details.
Longer Amortisation Period
Remember that if you refinance a 20 year long loan with 15 years remaining, with another 20 year loan, then you’ve just turned an original 20 year plan to a 25 year plan. You need to take care of such things!
Benefits of Refinancing
Here are a few:
Lower Monthly Payments
If you are someone who is not into planning too much into the future, refinancing may be a good option as it will insure lower monthly payments, i.e. greater monthly cash inflow.
Cash In Hand
Many people obtain cash so as to invest it for a higher rate than the current interest rate. Hop online to read detailed documents on the procedure of refinancing and make better decisions while getting home loans.
By: Michel Disusa
Posts Tagged ‘Refinancing Home Loans’
Refinancing Home Loans – An Introduction
April 18th, 2010Refinancing Home Loans – Some Disadvantages
March 23rd, 2010
If you are thinking of refinancing your home loan, you must first know the disadvantages of doing so. When you get a refinance loan, you basically make a new loan so that you can pay off your original loan. But here are the disadvantages:
• Costs – When you pay fees to get a loan, it means it will cost money to get a loan. This also means that you may not recoup at lower interest rates for years. Now, the only way to figure this all out is to add up the fees. Get the difference between the old payment and the new payment that you are making. Then divide the difference so that you can get the loan fees. These loan fees should equal the number of months you must pay until your new loan breaks even.
• Amortization – In a case like this, your amortization period will be much longer. You have the option of making it shorter but you might not qualify for the higher payment to begin with. You might also want to pay off the loan faster by paying more each month. So, if you refinance a loan that has 25 years remaining on it and you use a 30-year loan to do that, you will end up with a loan that will last 35 years to pay off.
• Mortgage – This will be larger in the case of refinancing home loans. This is because rolling the costs of the loan on a loan in itself will make it bigger and this can really harm your position in equity.
By: Elijah James
Explanation of Interest Rates on Refinance Home Loans
March 15th, 2010
The sole purpose of refinancing home loans is to save money in the long run. The ongoing credit crunch has left many people bewildered about their fiscal positions. One has to be very careful in calculating the monthly payments after the refinance to check for any savings. One quick way to find out the truth is to compare the terms of the new loan with the existing loan conditions.
Refinance Home Loans
The objective of refinancing home loan is to obtain money to cancel the previous outstanding amounts. This has got numerous beneficial including lowering of interest-rates, extended period of loan, saving money in the long run and reserving some cash for other expenditure every month. There are several conditions which might prove the credentials of the new loan and some of them are interest-rate, loan schedule, loan amount and the monthly payments.
Interest Rates – The crucial factor
Interest rates can be best explained as the factor which determines the amount of risk in the loan amount. The rest of the variables are determined based on this and it is negotiable between the borrower and the lender. The home loans offer the cheapest interest rates when compared with other loans and some times, they are subsidized by the government. The interest rates of a refinance home loan can be lower or higher depending upon the current and past credit score of the borrower. The market conditions also play a vital role in determining the interest rates. If the market performs sluggish with worst market conditions, there are ample chances of getting a lower interest on the refinance home loan.
It is good to check and compare for the interest-rates with various lenders and pay special attention to compare it with outstanding loan amount to save huge amount.
By: Robert K Johnson