Refinance?

Refinancing a house is a very popular way to "get out of debt". You still owe money on the house but you've paid off the credit cards.

We are considering such a deal. On the one hand it's not such a bad idea because we really got a lousy deal on our mortgage. We can pay off most of our adoption costs, lower our mortgage payment and everybody's happy right? Maybe not.

First of all, the mortgage company's going to make over 5 grand - yes $5,ooo - on the deal. Who pays for that? We do.

Then one broker was dissecting a deal from another broker and is pretty convinced they neglected to work our escrow payment into the low, low bottom line. Poof goes our lower payment.

While it may still be something to consider, I don't like working with people who...I'll just say it...lie. And there ARE folks out there that do just that. They count on the prospect, call them "client", or better yet...sucker, simply shaking there head and signing the papers as long as everyone's gone to so much "trouble".

Oops! Did I forget to add in that nasty old escrow? SHAME on me - here's a pen, what'reyawaiting for? No thanks. I'd walk out. Probably make a call to the proper agency too. Call me a spoilsport.

So here we are on the verge of the adoption. With everything else on our minds we've got brokers hot on our trail wanting to schedule appraisals RIGHT NOW. Don't get caught in that trap. They'll tell you rates are going up next week (So what's the stock market going to do? If I play my cards right I won't NEED a loan.) so you'd better get now while the gettings good. And so forth.

Don't buy it. Indeed the rates ARE going up...someday. And they'll come down again too. The fact is a quarter or half percentage point won't amount to a hill of beans in the long run. If you're finances are that close to the vest, you need to reasses the whole thing.

So what are we going to do? Sit on it for a while I think. We may lose a bit if the rates continue to rise, but I'm not going to rush to spend 5 grand. I could put that towards what we owe and be that much ahead.

Note: I may be out of touch for a while. Expect things to pick up towards the middle of June.