The rate your bank is offering is really good. You should definitely refinance.

Something to think about is to refinance to a lower rate on a 30 year loan. Then make your payments based on what you would pay on a 15 year loan or more. Most of the advertisements I have seen have a lower rate for the 30 year loan.

" Most of the advertisements I have seen have a lower rate for the 30 year loan."

This is completely mistaken! Not sure why you have not edited the post to reflect the fact that invariably the 15 year notes carry a lower interest rate than the 230 year notes!

The rates I have seen are usually .4% to .5% lower for 15 year loans, as compared to 30 year mortgages. I would ask both of those lenders for a list of fees and charges which would apply to your transaction and make sure you understand the numbers. If your current lender has a no cost or low cost refinance program for existing customers, your total cost might be similar to a lower rate with higher fees.

Great time to refinance. Yes, do find broker. They get deals due to volume of clients they bring and have no bias. Banks tend to have higher rates and surprisingly reluctant to work for their depositors. Just research research research.

I have a friend who is a mortgage broker and he's busier than a one-armed paper hanger because the rates are low.

I would jump on that rate from your own bank, and hope that you can get a call back. We tried to move on a similar rate (national bank via online app) a couple of weeks ago and didn’t even get a call back, or even any acknowledgement of our application .

I have a friend who is a mortgage broker and he's busier than a one-armed paper hanger because the rates are low.

I must not understand this. I would think that a one armed paper hanger would not be busy because: who would hire a one-armed paper hanger? What am I missing here?

Really don't understand one armed paper holder.

I think that answers my query!

Lulu-

Ok...it’s an old joke: paperhanging is demanding work where you’re busy using both hands to align everything and keep the paper from falling off the wall, so if you had only one arm you’d really be busy.

Definitely refinance! The rates you were quoted were good quotes as of right now. And you’ve been paying 5.25%. Your principal balance has gone down after 16 years of payments, so the amount you’re refinancing is lower than your original loan. Add that to the lower interest rate, and you should save a fair bit. Personally, I would not go for a 30 year loan-if you have had your original loan for 16 years,that means if you did nothing you still only have 14 years before it is paid off. So the switch to a 15 year makes sense. With the extra money you save refinancing-say in the $200 to 300 a month range, you can make extra payments any time you want-just make sure you mark those extra payments as “against principal only”. And watch your statements and make sure they go directly against principal. Make sure you get the terms of the refinance-the rate you are getting, the term (15 year, 30 year) and especially an itemized list of closing costs, in writing before going ahead.

We are also thinking of refinancing and our CPA sent us this info. You may find it helpful:

Mortgage

Important note of clarification - the $10k cap on Schedule A relates to taxes paid and not to mortgage interest paid (it's very confusing - you are not the only one to have been confused on this point).

1. Points are deductible on Schedule A (Itemized Deduction) in the year paid, provided that the funds provided at closing are at least as much as the points charged - anything over that amount would be deducted equally over the life of the loan

There are a number of other important considerations that relate to use of proceeds, total amount, etc. The IRS has a great interactive tax assistant that can help guide you through these considerations:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/can-i-deduct-my-mortgage-related-expenses

Kudzu - my grandmother used to use that phrase, along with "more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers.."

Thanks for the smile, I hadn't heard that in years. :)

patriceny- That's my second favorite... :-)

Saying I like and try to live by: Is the juice worth the squeeze?