If you intend to refinance your home there are a few things you need to take into consideration and ask yourself:

 

 

It is a very straightforward procedure as long as you know why you would like to refinance your house.

 

First, an appraisal does need to be completed on your house – this is normally at a cost of $300 to $550 depending on the location of your home and the value of your home. It takes about 3-6 working days depending on the market. The reason an appraisal must be completed is so the lender can see the market value of your home. You cannot refinance a home if the value is not there! If you finance 80% of the value of your home you can avoid the PMI (mortgage insurance that only insures the bank) and hence keep your payments down. Alternatively you can refinance 100% of the value of your home and we can structure the loan as an 80/20 or 80/15/5 and also avoid costly PMI.

 

Second, for your own interest find out if there is a pre-payment penalty on your present mortgages – first and second mortgage is applicable. Sometimes there is a three year pre payment penalty and may be hefty. It’s better to know upfront and make your decision upon this factor. In many cases, the benefit of refinancing is greater than the pre payment penalty.

 

Want to find out how much you will save by refinancing?  Check out our Refinancing Calculator

 

Call American Brokerage at 800-874-8760 or apply on line with our quick, secure application and get an answer the same day!