Refinancing Your Home

I was just on vacation in Saint Croix having a great time with friends.  The water was beautiful and clear. Everyone was talking about their jobs and then my turn came. As you know I am a Realtor, so a good friend of mines sister refinanced her house last year and now she wants to sell it.  She said she is saving a few hundred dollars by refinancing it. I didn’t go into any specifics but to me a few hundred means three maybe four.  I asked her why she refinanced only to want to sell.  She said she wanted to lower the payment and the refinancer rushed her through the process.  I asked her about the fees and she said there were a lot. Later that day I talked to her other sister and she was inquiring about refinancing her house and then selling it too. It just completely surprised me that she wanted to refinance then sell the next year.  I asked again why she was willing to refinancing only to sell.  She said she just needs to do something to bring her payments down. (Washington D.C.)

I believe the reason why a lot of owners are willing to refinance is because they don’t have to pay any out of pocket fees. My advice to her was, “Talk to a good Real Estate Agent”. Let them complete a comparative Market Analysis for you and let you know what your house can sell for and what it would cost you to sell your house.  She would need to sit down and write out her plans for her home. 

My tips:
***Don’t refinance if you intent is to sell within a few years.
***Don’t refinance if you can’t bring your interest rate down by at least 2%
***Don’t refinance without talking to a Real Estate Agent first.

 Before my husband and I were married I always advised him against refinancing but he had to fine out for himself.  So he called or they called him to sit down and talk about refinancing.  He sat down with an agent and saw all of those fees and enough said.  My mission was completed no refinancing for him and he wasn’t sure if he was going to sell it or keep it either. Bottom Line is he didn’t listen to the resident expert.

Some home owners entering into serious relationships or ending a marriage sometimes began to see their houses as burdens instead of what it are “an investment”. They may not want the hassle. For some it’s like being on a raft that is slowly sinking and your reaching our for anything to keep you a live.  You just want to stay a FLOAT.