You might remember that in May, I inquired about refinancing from a local mortgage broker, and she offered only bad news - that we didn't qualify for the government mortgage programs and that we'd have to pay PMI if we refinanced. I don't believe I mentioned that she said she'd call me back with more information and never did, but that combined with her not knowing the difference between an area code and a zip code made me wonder if a second opinion would be worth obtaining.
These many months later, I finally got around to finding a second opinion. The local broker had recommended calling the company that holds our mortgage and asking for a better rate; I didn't think we'd have much luck taking that route, but I figured a phone call couldn't hurt.
I called to ask about refinancing, expecting to be told the same story, but the man on the phone was actually very helpful. He was some sort of pre-screener, and he quoted me a rate in the 4s (a whole lot better than what we have now) and said he we wouldn't have to pay PMI since we didn't have to pay it originally. Excellent news!
He asked if I wanted to speak with a loan officer; I said I'd rather wait till B got home, especially since the mortgage is in B's name alone. I made an appointment for someone to call later that evening.
When the phone call arrived, we put the loan guy on speaker phone so we could both chat. And he was even more helpful than the first guy!
He checked a couple of things and told us that we do in fact qualify for the Fannie/Freddie government program as long as we have at least 95 percent equity in our house. We're going to receive a phone call in the next couple days about an appraiser coming over; that meeting will determine how much we'll have to bring to the closing to reach that number. He also confirmed that we do not have to pay PMI.
He offered more great news - the rate that we locked is below 4 - shockingly low! I was happy with the rate that the first guy quoted and didn't think that it could possibly get any lower. But it did.
The best news of all? We're going from a 30-year mortgage to a 15-year mortgage, and our monthly payment is only going up a smidge. Oh, happy day.
One negative is that I'm not really sure of next steps that will happen. When I asked questions of that sort, his answers were typically, "Oh, they'll call you about that." We haven't received any phone calls yet, so I guess we don't have to do anything other than collect the paperwork he requested.
Stay tuned...if I learn any lessons from our refinancing adventure, I'll be sure to share.
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