Inland Empire

[inlandlarry]

My current interest rate is 4.375%.  We are not planning to sell the house any time soon.  Is it worth to refi?  What are the doucments are required for refi?

Thanks!!

[Nanomug]

Is your loan FHA, conventional or jumbo?  How long have you had your mortgage?

Refinances require the same documentation as a purchase mortgage including credit scores and financial information.  

Mortgages issued prior to June 2009 are eligible for different ltv values.

My rule is to consider refinancing if the costs of refinancing are recouped within 3 years.  bankrate.com has a calculator for comparing current and future mortgages:

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/mortgages/refinance-calculator.aspx

[Dag44]

And don't forget - once you refi your loan becomes a recourse loan.

[inlandlarry]

Thanks Nano and Dag for your info. 

My loan is a jumbo loan.  We got the house in Dec. 2010, so 14 months.

[LoansbyJW]

When you say it's a Jumbo, is it a Conventional Jumbo or an FHA Jumbo? If it's conventional, the rates for those loans (30 to 30) aren't going to yield that much of a savings. If it's an FHA, you've only got until April 6th to refinance. Why? Once April 6th rolls by the Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP) goes to 1.75, up from 1.0, and the monthly goes from 1.15 to 1.35%. FHA requires a 5% "benefit to borrower" in order to refinance using a streamline process. It's doubtful that you can get a 5% benefit with this higher mortgage insurance coming.

Thanks for reading,

[inlandlarry]

John,

Thanks for your reply.  My loan is conventional jumbo.  Some people say that it's only worth to refi if the new rate is at least 1 point lower?  Is that true?