Before you refinance a loan, make sure that you carefully analyze any fees that your lender is including on the loan. The Department of Housing and Urban Development can provide you with a list of standard fees. Use it to make sure that your lender isn't tacking on anything extravagant. And by all means, compare their fees with other lenders in the market.
Don't fall for the 0% apr unless it fits in with your master plan. A lot of brokers will try to get you locked into a low interest rate that will balloon on you in a couple of years and leave you out on the street.
If you plan on moving out of your existing home within the next few years, it may not be beneficial for you to refinance. Make sure you let your mortgage specialist know your future plans.
Carefully review the estimated closing costs. If you decide to lock in the rate, the lender will send you a "good faith estimate" of your closing costs within three days. Go over the numbers carefully, and compare them to the ones that appear on the final settlement statement (the HUD-1) from your previous mortgage.
If your property value reduces and you refinance up to 80% of the reappraised value, your original mortgage amount may be higher than this amount. Thus, the new loan will not be sufficient enough to help you pay down the existing one.
