Well, this really depends on your cash flow. If you are in a position wherer the 15 year payment does not put you in a positive negative cash flow, I would recommend they you enhance your mortgage payment to a 30 year fixed loan.
The other positive in doing a 30 year fixed over a 15 year fixed is that you can always pay more such as a 15 year payment amount on the 30 year payment which will drop 5-7 years addditional off of the 15 year payment due to the fact that you are paying less interest with a 30 year payment.
If you would like any further information, please feel free to contact me.
Good luck!
The other positive in doing a 30 year fixed over a 15 year fixed is that you can always pay more such as a 15 year payment amount on the 30 year payment which will drop 5-7 years addditional off of the 15 year payment due to the fact that you are paying less interest with a 30 year payment.
If you would like any further information, please feel free to contact me.
Good luck!
If you are going to cut your rate by 1.5%, then I would go for the refinance.
Sounds like you're ina pretty good position. If you can snag a good rate then a refi is well worth doing, depending on the fees of course. As you whether you should drop your repayments, well, as David2 said, that really depends on your cashflow.
My personal feeling is that you should repay the loan aggressively while you are able - PARTICULARLY when you have acces to a good interest rate. While your rate is low, more of every $ will pay off your principle, so if you have capacity I'd refinance to a lower rate and keep my repayments the same (or even up them slightly if I could) and watch you loan balance drop much faster than it has in the past.
My personal feeling is that you should repay the loan aggressively while you are able - PARTICULARLY when you have acces to a good interest rate. While your rate is low, more of every $ will pay off your principle, so if you have capacity I'd refinance to a lower rate and keep my repayments the same (or even up them slightly if I could) and watch you loan balance drop much faster than it has in the past.
Your required monthly principal and interest payment for an $80,000 mortgage at 6% is $479.64.
Your balance is presently $78,000. If you want to pay that off in 15 years, voluntarily pay $658.21 monthly, or, extra $148.57.
If you refinance, I'm going to guess closing costs at least $3,000, the new $81,000 mortgage for 15 years at 4.50% would be monthly principal and ineterst of $619.64. That is $38.57 less monthly than if you just start paying extra.
To refinance, the house value today needs to be $102,000. If it is, do whichever makes sense to you. Pay extra on the present mortgage or refinance to make the payments $38 less monthly
Your balance is presently $78,000. If you want to pay that off in 15 years, voluntarily pay $658.21 monthly, or, extra $148.57.
If you refinance, I'm going to guess closing costs at least $3,000, the new $81,000 mortgage for 15 years at 4.50% would be monthly principal and ineterst of $619.64. That is $38.57 less monthly than if you just start paying extra.
To refinance, the house value today needs to be $102,000. If it is, do whichever makes sense to you. Pay extra on the present mortgage or refinance to make the payments $38 less monthly
