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The Pro's and Con's of Mortgage Refinacing

Christopher James

2022-02-04

Many people who want to buy a house find that they can afford the monthly payments on a mortgage that is larger than what their household budget actually enables, and thus end up borrowing more than they would like to. This might encourage them to consider refinancing their home loans in order to reduce their monthly payment and make it easier for them to cope financially. 

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The Benefits of Home Refinancing

The biggest initial benefit of refinancing is that it can make your monthly mortgage payments more affordable. This happens when the new terms on your loan are better than those of your existing loan, most notably by reducing your interest rate with a lower one. Also, you may be able to refinance into a shorter-term mortgage if you are currently paying for 30 years or more - which means that you will end up saving thousands in total interest charges over time.

Another important factor is refinancing costs. These include all the fees and taxes associated with closing a new deal, including title insurance, appraisal fee, attorney's fees, and so on. However, the closing costs are about 2% of the outstanding loan balance at most, so you can expect them to be much lower than the amount you will save with a lower interest rate over time.


The Risks of Home Refinancing

The main risk of refinancing is that you will lose part or all of any equity that you have in your home. This may happen if your home value drops after the refinance, which creates a situation where it would be more cost-effective to simply sell your house right now. Also, letting go of an existing loan can cause significant tax consequences because there are many recording fees involved which will make refinancing not worthwhile for some people.

One last drawback worth mentioning is refinancing risks. Most notably, this applies when interest rates drop and you should consider locking in your new rate through a 15 or 20 year fixed rate mortgage instead. There are also other refinancing risks like qualifying for lesser loan amounts than what was originally requested.

A big drawback of refinancing is that it requires you to go through all the paperwork and procedures again. This might take days or even weeks, depending on how large your mortgage loan currently is. Also, during this process, you will not be able to use money that has already been earmarked for other expenses, which may put stress on your household finances if you are already struggling with paying bills every month...

Besides these considerations, there are also other factors to consider when deciding whether it's worth refinancing your home loan. The value of your home. If it has gone down since you bought it then you might not want to refinance it. If you're refinancing against the equity in your home to go for a lower monthly payment, then you might just end up losing money this way.

However, if the value of your house has increased since you bought it then refinancing can be worthwhile because there's now more equity in your home than what you owe on it, which means that even if the interest rate is higher than before at least you won't lose any money.


Financial Benefits From Refinancing

The main financial benefit of mortgage refinancing is that it can reduce your monthly payments significantly. This happens when the new terms on your loan are better than those of your existing one, most notably by lowering your interest rate with a lower one. Also, you may be able to refinance into a shorter-term mortgage if you are currently paying for 30 years or more which means that you will end up saving thousands of dollars in total interest charges over time.

One last thing worth mentioning about refinancing is that it allows homeowners to switch fixed-rate mortgages with adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM) which offer lower fixed interest rates initially but may explode in cost over time. However, ARMs can be very helpful for people who expect to sell their house within a few years because the initial monthly payments are much lower than what you would pay if you took out a 30-year fixed-rate loan.


Conclusion

Mortgage refinancing can be a great way to save money in the long run, but it's important to do your research before making any decisions. By taking into account your financial situation and what you hope to gain from refinancing, you can make an informed choice about whether or not this type of loan is right for you.