Doing the same thing, Denny. Same % but for 15 yrs. And keeping the payments at least what they were before. Save some $$ before the empty suit gets it all.

Dear SRF - To your good health and good head! (with a Cognac: Grand Marnier.) Au diable the French...except their cheese and wine!

Good move Denny. Congrats!

I think I'll join in on the celebrations with a CR Manhattan.

Sweet! Gratz :-)
I've been dragging my feet somewhat. Need to act soon. We have more home improvements to do, getting our place ready to sell. So far, we've been able to manage some improvements on our own, but we have some big ticket items coming up, and a cash-out refi is going to be unavoidable. FICO is great, so hopefully we won't have issues with the banks.

P.S. Agreed, Claudia. In boycotting France, I've really missed their wines and cheese!
Meanwhile, Mr. Mo is boycotting Scotland. He's missing his Scotch, but content with Bushmill's, Jameson, and The Woodford. For now :-)

What was your APR?

4.795

That's a difference of 42 basis points compared to your note rate. That margin should never exceed 25. Still, anything below 5.00 is pretty damn cheap and won't last forever.

I'm still working on my refi. My financial consultant has been having me hold off because of the closing costs associated with doing it thus far. Get this. My current rate became adjustable after 5 years. Readjusts every 6 months. It just "readjusted" starting today at 2.78%. So 18 months from now, the MOST I will be paying is 4.78%. That's not too shabby so this adjustable thing has actually benefited me.

It benefits you during periods of stable or declining interest rates. In your case, the maximum is held in check because government bond yields are still so low. Once the fed signals an increase in interest rates and/or the market starts demanding higher yields on government treasuries, you'd better get the fuck out of that ARM as fast as you possibly can.

Trust me. Interest rates must increase at some point because all this cheap money we have right now is totally unsustainable. My two cents worth.

I did a re-fi in '03. Payment went up $8 but I saved a hefty six figures on the life of the loan when I trimmed six years off of it.

Paul is correct about the future of rates. Dump the arm now. When rates start going up so will the closing costs to re-fi to a fixed. Why? Because they can.

Ditto on the recommendation to drop the ARM. I was in the mortgage industry for 22 yrs. and the only reason I can see getting an ARM is if you a) couldn't afford the payment at the beginning had it been fixed but you are pretty certain of getting a raise or coming into more money soon that you'll be likely able to refi soon to a fixed, or b)you have serious plans to sell the house before the next adjustment period or shortly thereafter. Generally speaking, when fixed rates are so low, it's risky to go with an ARM, period.
Same for balloon-resets. And fer god's sake, don't ever touch those horrible interest-only loans. My colleagues and I were like, WTF? when those came on the scene a couple of years ago.

Send a thank-you note to Barney Frank.