Article Surfing Archive

Home loan refinance can be one of your best options if you still want to have ownership over your home. However, you should also be very careful on the different traps that go along with it.

At least once in your life you dream of living in a comfortable home. It can be located in a city or suburb, where you can raise your family well. Yet with the increasing prices of homes today and the way income hardly changes, there will always come a time when it is going to be very difficult for you to settle your monthly home mortgage loan. Hence, before you become another victim of foreclosure, consider a home refinancing.

A home loan refinance carries a number of benefits. For one, you can have enough cash to pay off whatever pending dues you have, even including interest. Moreover, you can have the opportunity to extend your payment term, so you will be able to lower down your payments every month and save enough funds to pay off other debts. Nevertheless, there are also several traps that you need to avoid, if you do not want to consider your application for a home refinancing totally futile:

1. Do not apply for a home loan refinance in your current lending company. It is actually simple logic. Why would you consider submitting an application for a home refinancing in your old lending institution when it cannot provide you of better interest rates? At first glance, you may realize that the lender can present small interest charges than before; however, the payment term can be extended that it almost appears as if you are still paying the same amount as with your previous loan.

2. Do not go for variable rates for your home loan refinance. There are some companies that can offer you variable interest rates for your refinance. This can happen at the early part of the mortgage. The problem, however, is since it is variable it can increase tremendously, which may mean you will even be paying more interest compared to what you usually pay with your old loan.

3. Know if you will be able to really save money with the options you have for home loan refinance. It is important that you can conduct a break-even analysis before finally choosing your lender. The process is very simple. All you need to do is to divide the cost of your transaction to the savings you can get every month. This way, you will be able to know how long you will likely break even from your expenses. For example, if the cost is $1,500 and you will likely save $40 every month, then you can recuperate from the cost around 38 months. If you think you want to live at the same house within that period, then you have to refinance.

4. Avoid going for a loan with higher interest rate. When the interest rate is high, you can shorten your payment term. Nevertheless, before you say go, ensure first that you have made the right decision. One way to check is to look at the APR of your recent mortgage. The interest rate should be lower than what is being offered in your old loan.