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Archive for July, 2012

What would you do?

July 13th, 2012 at 09:25 pm

DH and I have decided to refinance. We are currently at 4.8% and going down to 3.5% (and to a 15-yay!) with no out of pocket cost, except for a possible appraisal. Since we refinanced about 3 years ago, our mortgage broker said we might get away with an online appraisal for $75 vs $400 for an actual one. We considered going down even further to about 2.8% but that would cost approx $1800 plus the appraisal. Going to 3.5 will save approx $55 a month....going to 2.8 would save about $75. Since we are planning on selling in (hopefully) about 5 years, we think just going with the 3.5 is the best thing. Not sure we could recoup what we would have to pay by buying down points.

Anyway, we are now trying to decide what to do with the "extra" money we are saving.....throw it towards the mortgage? Or up the 401K's? Our mortgage is approximately $127,000

What would you do?

On a side note, if we went down to a 3.5 and a new 30 year mortgage, our payment would be cut almost in half of what it is now....lol. We decided NOT to do that mainly because it could be too tempting to have all that extra money hanging around every month. Sure, we could SAY we would use it wisely by paying down the house or upping the 401K's but it could get real comfortable having that extra cushion around.

Also, we will not throw it at the car loans....my car is now down to $4000 with no interest. DH's care is now down to $9100 with a very low rate (plus we pay extra on the loan every month anyway) and once mine is paid off, we will up his payment even further.

Thanks for your advice and opinions! Smile