Smith & Chen asked:


There are three main reasons that consumers consider a Houston refinance mortgage. They are lower rate, cash out (or debt consolidation), and converting from adjustable to a fixed rate.

For a rate refinance an important consideration is the closing costs to be paid. If there are typical closing costs it is usually advisable to refi if you can save ? percent on your rate or more. With a “no closing cost” loan it can make sense to refi with 1/8 percent savings or more. The no closing cost option is not always the best choice. If a mortgage with some closing costs is available at a better rate you should consider the payback time. This is a calculation of how long it would take a rate savings to recover the closing costs. If the payback is 4 years and you plan on having the loan longer than that it may be the better deal.

For cash out refinancing there are rules that are commonly called “Texas cash-out” rules. The key part of this is that the loan may not exceed 80% of your homes appraised value. For example if your home is worth $100,000 and you currently have a $50,000 mortgage, the maximum cash out would be $30,000 (less closing costs). It is usually not advisable to do a cash out refi if it would result in a higher rate than you currently have. If you can’t get a equal or better finance rate it may be better to do a second mortgage or home equity line of credit instead (HELOC). Ask a good loan officer or mortgage broker to show you options and explain the differences.

It is usually advisable to convert from an adjustable to a fixed rate mortgage only if the fixed rate is equal or better. Some adjustable rate loans have a prepayment penalty the first two or three years. In some cases it can be best to wait until after the penalty clause expires to refinance.

For all refinance mortgages it is important to get the best possible rate and terms. Your credit, income, and loan to value ratio will be factors for your rate and terms. Your goal should be to get the best program that you qualify for. There are a lot of mortgage programs available in the marketplace. In general the best include some Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac programs, and VA conforming loans. Next might be other conventional “A” mortgages or FHA loans which are very good. Alternate A loans are next, these are loans that don’t quite fit the top tier because they are very large (jumbo), or for another reason like not documenting your income. Next could be Fannie/Freddie programs that are for those with less than perfect credit (sometimes called A- mortgages”). Next to last would be “sub-prime” loans. These are for consumers with more difficult to finance mortgages because of credit or other reasons. The lowest category could be called “hard-money” loans. Some lenders will do this type of mortgage at a high rate regardless of severe problems if there is a large amount of equity.

I suggest dealing with a lender that has a large variety of programs to select from. If you shop a lender that only does one type of mortgages you will probably be turned down if you don’t fit their program. When you shop a lender that doesn’t do FHA loans, they may suggest a lower category mortgage with a higher rate. And it is better when a lender offers a choice of programs, rather than just one.

Texas residents can visit our Houston refinance mortgage site for more information. You can also call my office at 281-537-7800.

Mortgage Rate Calculators - Valuable Tools For Getting The Best Loan

Are you looking for some inside information on refinance mortgage rate calculators? Here’s an article that can help provide information for you to find the best rates for your mortgage.

Refinancing is a smart move if you want to lower your monthly payment and overall interest on your bills. With refinance mortgages, you are also able to change the term of the loan to a shorter one so you can pay off the loan earlier and save more on interest.

There are actually several reasons why people want to take a refinance mortgage. This is also why refinance mortgage rate calculators are important. Refinance mortgage rate calculators help consumers determine the amount of savings they can make on their chosen loan type. Refinance mortgage rate calculators also aid you in finding out how much is your monthly payment for your refinancing loan.

The Internet refinance mortgage rate calculators show you the monthly payments you need to make for your mortgage. Aside from that, these refinance mortgage rate calculators also show you the total interest rate. If you’re more concerned on how much saving you will be able to make with a refinancing loan, refinance mortgage rate calculators will also help you on that.

It seems like new information is discovered about something every day. And the topic of refinance mortgage rate calculators is no exception. Keep reading to get more fresh news to help you make a wise financial decision.

The refinance mortgage rate calculator will ask you for your current loan information. For instance, on the refinance mortgage rate calculator, a field labeled Principal Balance will be provided along with the Monthly Payment and Annual Interest Rate fields. You need fill these up in order to start using the refinance mortgage rate calculator.

To complete the process, the website’s refinance mortgage rate calculator will also ask for your new loan information. Another three fields will be provided in the refinance mortgage rate calculator. The refinance mortgage rate calculator fields are: Annual Interest Rate, Term, and closing Costs. By checking on the Finance Closing Costs at the bottom part of the refinance mortgage rate calculator and then hitting the Calculate button, you can determine how many months it will take for your loan to break even on the closing costs.

For example, for the Principal Balance field on the refinance mortgage rate calculator, you put in $150,000 (Take note that the amount you place in this refinance mortgage rate calculator field represents the remaining pay-off balance). The Interest Rate of your current loan is 6% and the data you put in the refinance mortgage rate calculator Monthly Payment field is $899.30.

For the New Loan Information portion of the refinance mortgage rate calculator, you place the following data: 5% Annual Interest Rate, 30-year Term, and $0 for Closing Costs. Make sure that you check the box for Finance Closing Costs at the bottom of the refinance mortgage calculator before hitting the Calculate button.

The results of the refinance mortgage rate calculator would show you that your new monthly payment would be $805.23, $93.77 short of your current loan monthly payment. The refinance mortgage rate calculator would also display the difference in the interest rates of both loans. With the refinance mortgage rate calculator, you will be able to find that the total interest of your current loan would be $173,757.28 while your new interest after refinancing would be $139,883.68. This allows you to save $33,873.61 on interest.

As your knowledge about mortgage calculators continues to grow, you will begin to see how easy it is to get the best loan available. Knowing how these type of tools work is important when making large financial decisions.



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anuitutu asked:


I have a mortgage rate of 6.85%. should I refinance now or will interest rates go down more after the president signs the new bill to help mortgage companies?

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Joe asked:


I highly doubt feds will drop rates again, so how long should I wait to refinance after this last drop?

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CLW asked:


We have well water and are refinancing our house with FHA. The appraiser said we may be required to hook up to public water. I need to know if it is required in a refinance. We do not currently have an FHA loan, we are refinancing with FHA. She didn’t know if it was required since it was a refinance and not a new purchase. Thanks.

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rarafury asked:


My car was bought under my dad’s name, and I would like to refinance it under my name to lower interest int and establish credit. Is that possible?

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Martin Lukac asked:


Refinancing your existing mortgages has many advantages like lowering the monthly payments or interest rates paid. The latter is in fact one of the most important reasons for opting for refinance. Thus a vital point to be considered while taking a mortgage refinance is mortgage refinance rates.

Mortgage refinance rates depend upon various market factors as well as your personal factors as a borrower. But mortgage refinance rates mainly depend upon the interest accrued on the refinance loan. The mortgage refinance rate is expressed as the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). APR is the total amount of money repayable by the borrower to the lender on a loan, per annum.

It will also depend on the kind of mortgage refinance loan you would choose. The different kind of mortgage refinance options available can be broadly classified on the basis of:

-Fixed mortgage refinance rate: Various fixed rate refinance include 30 year fixed mortgage refinance, 20 year fixed mortgage refinance, 15 year fixed mortgage and 10 year mortgage refinance, etc.

-Adjustable mortgage refinance rate: This category includes 1 year ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage), 3/1 ARM refinance, 3/1 interest only ARM refinance, 5/1 ARM refinance, 5/1 ARM interest only refinance, etc.

Few ways by which you can reduce your mortgage refinance rates are: -Keep a check on your credit score: Your credit history will have a great impact on the mortgage refinance rate you will be offered. Making payments late or missing payments will decrease your credit score. Also, take care to see that you don’t use your credit cards and line of credit loans to the maximum credit limit available to you. Doing so will again decrease your credit score. Having a bad credit score will not stop you from availing a mortgage refinance. But the mortgage refinance rate offered to you will be 2% to 6% higher than usual. So try to improve your credit score to get lower mortgage refinance rates.

-Think about paying points: This is one more alternative to lower mortgage refinance rates. One point is equal to one percent of the mortgage amount. For instance, a mortgage loan of $10,000 with 3 points will incur additional $3000 as charges. Higher the points charged to the mortgage, lower will be your mortgage refinance rate. Points can either be paid upfront or financed by the amount from the loan.

-Do your research: As in all other sectors, there is intense competition in the lending sector too. It might make sense to obtain mortgage refinance from your current lender, but they might not necessarily offer you the best mortgage refinance rates. Thus it is wise to compare rates offered by various lenders. And with World Wide Web at your finger tips this should not be a tedious task. Applying online will help you get multiple offers from various lenders. Compare the mortgage refinance rates as well as the services of the lender and then choose the best offer suiting your needs.

To get the best mortgage refinance deal don’t compare only mortgage refinance rates but also consider closing costs and redemption penalties.



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Rony Walker asked:


There are two nightmares plaguing our society today. The first is buying a gem of a car, and the second is getting stuck with an expensive refinance mortgage loans. Which is yours?

Jumping Into Quicksand

It is unwise to hurry a loan with insufficient information. Before you can extricate yourself from the mess, you have already sunk neck-deep into the quicksand of an expensive refinance mortgage loan, lured by the promise of lower interest rates.

Failure to understand how a refinance mortgage loan works, and the neglect of reviewing and comparing the features of different loans, including the policies of the various lending companies can result in 15-30 years of painful payback.

Ideally, a refinance mortgage loan should give you the advantage of lower monthly bills compared to the existing loan you will close. Of course, the longer the loan repayment period the lower the monthly dues, but if you sum it up, you will find out that you are paying not only double your loan but also triple.

A 30-year fixed rate switched to a 30 year adjustable rate, will lower monthly bills but after the honeymoon, get ready to pay more. If you were not aware of this, then it is high time to go to the bottom of a refinance - before getting another loan.

Always check the going rates and compare these with your present loan. You might be paying a higher monthly bill even if you got a loan with lower interest rates.

Did you get the right refinance?

Did you refinance just to have lower monthly mortgage payments? An astute borrower goes for a refinance to maximize available options that would work for their advantage.

One way to make refinance work for you is to switch from an existing credit to pay off your loan without living with the stress. If your current loan is a 30-year fixed loan, switching to a 30 or 40-year fixed refinance mortgage loan, you will get a lower monthly bill. A 30-year adjustable exchanged for a fixed 30-year will have you paying lowered monthly bills.

It may sound odd that switching a 30-year fixed rate loan to a 15-year payback will give lower monthly rates and build equity. Your equity is like money in the bank. As the values increases your mortgage payments decreases.

What is the right refinance mortgage loan

It all boils down to being able to pay the monthly bills for a number of years, and the savings you will generate from the new loan. It is a rule of thumb that a new loan must be 2% lower than your existing interest rate. But is this so?

Not always. Some companies will levy charges against you, which will make your loan more expensive in the long run. These charges come in the form of fees that they can think of - origination fees, appraisal fees, and closing fees - are just examples.

Another mistake when getting a refinance is rushing to get lower interest rates but erasing a number of years of payments made on the current loan. This happens when you’ve been paying a 30 year mortgage loan, and there’s 18 years left pay off the loan, and you refinance to a new 30-year program just for a few hundred dollars deducted from the monthly bills.

So you’ll end up shelling more money after your refinance mortgage loan. Is that what you want?



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Kevin Clark asked:


You bought that dream car some time back but now it is draining away your finances as you have to make a high amount of payment each month towards its loan installments. It pinches more because market interest rates on car loans have fallen. So you want to refinance your car but your bad credit comes in the way. Well, you can take resort in bad credit car refinance which is designed specifically for people who have arrears, late payments, payment defaults or county court judgments against their names.

Bad credit car refinance allows you to replace your existing car loan with the new suitable loan. The main aim behind bad credit car refinance usually is that the borrower wants to reduce the monthly payment amount towards the existing car loan. This is done by taking bad credit car refinance at lower interest rate as compared to the rate on existing loan. So bad credit car refinance should be opted for when market interest rate on loans have fallen or you are finding a new suitable lender. It is advisable to first search the loan market well on internet. This way you can have a bird’s eye view of prevailing interest rate on bad credit loans for car refinancing. You can then make your mind as to go for bad credit car refinance or not.

Second step to bad credit car refinance is to take rate quotes of lenders. You can apply for rate quotes and you can avail interest rates of different lenders of bad credit car refinance immediately. Each lender has own rates as per the borrower’s circumstances. The rates for bad credit borrowers also vary from lender to lender. So you can compare bad credit car refinance providers extensively for locating a lender having a competitive refinance offer for you.

Also it would be wiser if you have improved your credit score a bit before applying for bad credit car refinancing. For doing so you can clear some easy debts. When applying for bad credit car refinance with an improved credit score, you get the refinance at competitive rate. So keep these basic aspects of bad credit car refinance before applying for it.



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sd_8705 asked:


I need to refinance my car and not sure on who I should go with to submit an application, so I can insure a new, good, low interest rate.

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John Hasenauer asked:


If you find yourself looking for some ways to get extra funds in order to make large but somewhat important purchases, your best bet would be to go for a cash out refinance. This is because cash out refinance will ensure you of a better interest rate even if you are looking for loans in order to buy the home of your dreams. This is a better option as evidenced by the growing number of homeowners who are looking to cash out refinance in order to solve their money and loan dilemmas.

The great thing about cash out refinance is that it offers several enticing advantages that will surely have you convinced of this really swell idea. But at the same time, cash out refinance also comes with its own set of pitfalls you might be able to avoid if you are keen on being a really smart buyer. To start off, cash out refinance is a type of approach which also includes being able to create newer types of mortgage loans for whatever purpose it may serve.

Cash out refinance offers you the great option of refinancing by sticking with your own current lender of being able to choose a new potential mortgage lender you would like to establish a relationship with. When it comes to cash out refinance, the old loan that you have before will then be replaced and you will then transfer the new mortgage payments to whoever will be your new lender. A lot of homeowners refinance for several reasons.

One reason for engaging in cash out refinance by these homeowners is that because of these low mortgage rates, being able to refinance for a very low rate is a really perfect way for putting a decrease to your monthly payments. Aside from this, cash out refinance also offer a good adjustable rate mortgage with generally points to a refinance that has a low fixed rate acquisition. Cash out refinance also comes with some benefits for those who want to have some extra funds.

The enticing option of cash out refinance will also involve the creation of a new mortgage option while at the same time borrowing some of the equity of your own home. As such, your new mortgage total will then surpass of exceed the amount that was state before. Cash out refinance is a very ideal option for homeowners who have old homes and require some upgrades. This type of solution will work best because it can really finance your project without too many hitches on the part of the solution.

As such, the type of funds that may be granted to you as cash out would also be used as a great capital for you to start a business or even plan for your retirement, as well as paying for college expenses of even some personal debts you may need to pay off. Indeed, cash out refinance is a solid decision you can make which you will truly enjoy the benefits that come with it.



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