Are you wondering how often should you refinance your primary home mortgage? You've come to the right place because I've refinanced dozens of mortgages since buying my first property in 2003. The shorter answer is you should refinance your mortgages as many times as possible to save money!
Mortgage rates collapsed during the global pandemic. The Federal Reserve cut its Fed Funds rate to 0% – 0.125% in the first half of 2020. They then stated the play to keep the Fed Funds rate at 0% – 0.125% for years to come. However, with elevated inflation, mortgage rates have shot up in 2022+.
You should check the latest mortgage rates online. I got a 7/1 ARM jumbo mortgage for only 2.25% in 2020! The key is to keep shopping around for real mortgage rate quotes.
Refinance A Property As Many Times As Possible
I've refinanced my primary mortgage four times in seven years and I won't stop as long as rates keep going lower. The Federal Reserve has conducted so much monetary easing over the past 10 years that everybody with a mortgage should have refinanced at least a couple times!
In the fall of 2012, I refinanced my jumbo 5/1 ARM at 3.625% down to 3.125% with no fees or cash outlay. It took about 70 days, but it was well worth it because I only had two years left before my fixed rate expired. My interest payments went down by a several hundred bucks.
I thought I was set for another five years until I checked again at the end of January, 2012 when the 10-year yield dropped to 1.85% from 2%. To my surprise, I discovered I could refinance AGAIN just 5 months later. This time, at a rate of only 2.625% for 5 years! Banks began lending again, sacrificing margins for market share.
Although my mortgage refinance took around 100 days to complete, I'm now so thankful that it's done because I no longer have a W2 paycheck, making it brutally difficult to ever refinance or get a mortgage again! By taking action, I'm able to save around $20,000 in interest expense over the next five years.
In 2016, I refinanced again after buying a new property in Golden Gate Heights in San Francisco in 2014.
Biggest Deterrents To Refinancing A Mortgage
The entire mortgage refinance process seems daunting for the inexperienced. I have many friends who are eligible to refinance. But they are happy to pay their 5.5% 30-year fixed rate mortgage they took out five years ago because they don't know where to start!
They are crazy for leaving so much money on the table because 30-year fixed rate conforming mortgages are now below 3%! By refinancing down to 2.87% from 5.5%, they would save $10,000+ a year in interest expense on a $500,000 mortgage.
Checking The Latest Mortgage Rates Online
I finally got one of my friends to join me to refinance their mortgage this past Spring. However, instead of going with my guy at Citibank, he went with Credible.
At the time, I had no idea what Credible was because I had always focused on refinancing with the traditional banks in Bank of America and Citibank. I thought Credible was just a finance software company, and I wanted to see the eyes of my mortgage officer and shake his hand so he wouldn't screw me.
Because Credible is an online company, they do not have the overhead costs that the traditional bricks and mortar banks have. As a result, they are able to pass along some of their savings to their clients and find the best mortgage rates for you given their massive network.
My friend was able to match my rate of 2.125%, get a small credit, and do everything online. He felt comfortable with the process so I wished him good luck.
A Long Refinance Process Could Have Been Easier
On the 58th day of my 100 day mortgage refinance saga, my friend informed me his loan had closed!
His mortgage refinance with a Credible loan closed a full month before mine did and I was getting annoyed as hell because I was going bonkers waiting so long for my guys to get done.
Of course there was this whole PG&E utility bill fiasco that delayed my closing by another 10 days in the end as well.
Pretty soon, several other colleagues and friends started mentioning other lenders with rates even lower than what I was getting.
I always thought I was special. I thought I was getting the lowest rate with Citibank since I have a 11-year relationship with them. I've also got several hundreds thousands in savings with them as well.
Credible not only matched the rates I received, they referred a lender that closed in a shorter time period. Of course each case will be different. However, based on what I've seen, the bricks and mortars banks are in for a lot of competition.
If you haven't checked the latest mortgage rates in the past 6 months, chck now. I'm pretty sure rates will be much lower than what you've got now.
Mortgage Rates Keep Going Down
The hesitancy with dealing with online companies is fading and that's great for consumers. For example, I have never met my USAA bank representative in person. Yet, I've opened up three CDs with USAA because their rates at the time were so much higher than everybody else.
For future mortgage refinances, I'm going to always at least check with online companies before making a move. It's the same concept as checking out a product's price on Amazon for the lowest rate. You then check out the product in real life. Finally, you then going back online to buy the product!
I hope you are no longer wondering how often should you refinance your primary home mortgage. The answer really is as often as you can to save money.
A great breakeven point for deciding whether to refinance is 18 months or less. In other words, in 18 months or less, the savings you get from refinancing your mortgage will start being greater than the cost of refinancing a mortgage.
You may also want to go my favorite “no-cost refinancing” route so you can have immediate savings. You'll end up paying a higher mortgage rate, but you are guaranteed to save immediately.
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Refinancing can be such a PITA. I’ve gone through the process three times and each time seemed to take longer. Although it was time consuming, I’m so glad I did it.
^^Also, who would you recommend? Credit scores are 700+.
Great site. I currently have a fixed 4.47%, 30 year, refinanced down from a ridiculously high 5.44% from 2008 (30 yr fixed too).
Our home value is around +$400K and current balance is about $249K.
I believe a 7 or 10 yr ARM below 3.25% would allow us to payoff in about 6 years since we would continue to pay at current rate of $1,500/mon and add an annual principle payment between 15K and 25K each summer. Wife will likely retire within the next two years (20 yrs). Our combined HH income is greater than $230K (180/57). We have no other debt except a used SUV (less than $25K and an $7K IRS bill I will pay off by end of March)
Given this, would you:
Approve of this plan?
Advise of a different plan?
Thanks
FYI GREAT site…you were a huge help in buying our house.
ARM loans have a huge stigma (without research) but with mandatory PMI…I was stunned to see a “traditional mortgage” would have us paying just a few hundred less per month NOW than what our ARM could cap at worst case scenario way down the road. (And if things get dicy on rates, we can always refinance into a traditional mortgage down the road. Rates really don’t go up by more than a % or two per year, so you’ll have flags if things are rising.)
We did a 5/1 2.99% credit union arm that can’t go more than 6% total, and no more than 2% per year. (Make SURE to check the annual cap as well, one credit union could go up the full percentage in one year, which was too risky for us.)
FYI they’re trying to weasel it so PMI will be mandatory for the LIFE of the loan versus the initial 20%, so be VERY leery of thinking PMI is temporary…avoid at all costs. Bottom-line do your own research…traditional does not always mean best value, especially with the ever encroaching PMI, that doesn’t protect you…only the banks.
Again, great site, I also loved your logic on wedding ring to car buying habits….beautiful logic!
Wonderful Lorraine! Alway good to hear from a reader who found my content helpful. That’s what this site is all about, and also happiness, of course.
Have you seen this article? 30 Year Fixed Or ARM? The Choice Is Obvious
I’m glad you went the ARM route. I strongly believe interest rates will stay low for a long time.
Hi FS, wow, you even replied, thank you!
Out of all the sites I found, yours was by FAR the best…and the writing is superlative…you make “dry” material entertaining.
Honestly I am a bit OCD and researched for months on ARM’s vs. traditional because the stigma, but you flat can’t argue with math.
Your site backed my research and gave me the confidence to go the ARM route. It saved us a BUNDLE as we got a way lower rate with a set cap AND no PMI. (It was killing me to pay a huge PMI which only benefits the banks, not the buyer.)
Sad thing is, even at worst case scenario, even if the ARM rate maxed out down the road, it would only be a few hundred more than what we would have paid THE ENTIRE TIME for the traditional 30 year mortgage when you include PMI. :(
I understand penalizing risky buyers, but slapping on a mandatory EXPENSIVE PMI to even the best credit, just because the banks want to dole out risky loans and have the rest of us pay to protect the banks on their riskier lending choices? Not impressed with that logic/fairness.
Ok, ranting aside, keep up the great work FS…and thank a million for the reply, it made my day!
We bought our primary residence in February of 2014 with an FHA 30 yr fixed loan at 3.75%. We never intended to keep the FHA loan, it was temporary in order to get into the house and not miss the opportunity. As you know the FHA loan came with a hefty monthly payment of 1.35% for the life of the loan. So for us that meant about $400/month, which still put our total mortgage + taxes + HOA at $400 less a month than what we were paying in rent.
Then 6 months later we were refinanced out of the FHA loan and into a 5/5 option arm with Navy Federal. I had been interested in an adjustable mortgage but had never seen a 5/5 arm. The initial rate for the first 5 years is 3.675%. So are saving a little over $400/month now from our previous FHA loan. Mostly from the removal of PMI.
This was a no cost refi with the exception of about $1,200 that covered the appraisal, escrow, and title. We will save $30,000 during the first 5 years.
I will continue to monitor rates for opportunities to refinance. As long as I can save money than it will be worth it.
Even if rates to to rise significantly and push this to a maximum 8.675% it is just about a push to the FHA loan. With the exception that the PMI was not tax deductible, so I would pick up an additional $150k in interest deduction if not more.
– Gen Y Finance Guy
Correct, I was mistaken. Once I understood where are the numbers were coming from the refi made complete sense
right, everyone says refi, but how much does your principal go up.
Did a “co closing cost” refi with penfed, 1% origination fee on 165k loan, and my principal is going up 4k
Your principal should never go up with a refi, unless you are rolling your costs of your refi into your mortgage. That’s what seems like is happening with you.
Good article. You had no cash outlay when you refinanced but there were closing costs that were added into the loan right? How much?
I am looking into a refinance on a rental property and closing costs on a $210,000 loan are about $6,000.
You mentioned somewhere that you recommend payback on costs in a year or less. This definitely won’t. Only going down .75% but should get a large amount of cash out.
The big thing to remember here is that in a refinance situation the bank or lender is in it to make money and the consumer is in it to save money. Period! So where is the line drawn between the two parties and who is the referee? What makes this sort of dealing a fair fight? The answer is an experienced professional that knows the laws inside and out. This sort of representation will be any consumers ace in the whole to ensure that they are getting exactly what they signed up for. My advice here is to never go at something like this alone!
I also agree with as ““As many times as it takes to save you money!”” but also I agree with Darwin’s point of the future savings offsetting closing costs.
I am going to share this article with my clients. Thank you.
Austin.
I agree w as many times as it takes as long as the NPV supports it. Some people pass on a refi when they should do it bc of “sunk costs” or guilt that they just spent the money. But if the future savings offset your closing costs (or just do a no-cost refi), then there’s no reason not to.
I have refinanced about 8 times in the past 15 years. Each time I take out a new 30 year fixed loan. This week, I lowered my rate to 3.625%. My mortgage broker gave me $3,800 towards closing costs. Since the closing costs were about $1,800 (not counting taxes and insurance escrow), they essentially paid me to refinance.
My only question: Had I never refinanced, then I would be 15 years into a 30 year mortgage, and I would have a lot more equity. Alternatively, had I refinanced, but kept paying the same amount as before, I’d even have more equity. Instead, whenever I refinance, I start paying the new, lower monthly payment.
So, now I have a new mortgage, but less equity than I could have had.
I’m beginning to think that I should have been paying off my house faster.
What do you think?
Not sure. I’ve always made extra payments to my principal every year so that I don’t extend the amortization period. But, two of my refinances were with the same bank and they just fixed for another five years with the same amortization schedule. They didn’t sell the mortgage to the secondary market so that’s why they could do this.
Why not just throw a chunk of cash at principal now?
I would agree. If you can save money than do it. We are looking at refinancing right now since interest rates are still really good. We want to pay as little interest as we can for as long as we can. We are also looking at building on an addition which the low interest rates will make it more affordable.
Quicken is a good company but they definitely don’t have the lowest rates! I refi’d with Quicken then with Amerisave and they were about .5% lower. I’m currently at a 3.125% 7/1 ARM :) Not bad for a condo.
Penfed and home box loans are also pretty good choices. Penfed has a 2% home equity loan that you may be interested in..
I am 5 years into an 5.875% – killing me to read the post and comments! I tried to refinance and the fees made the cross over period longer than I will be in the home for (and I am not allowed to rent it).
5.875% is not bad, it’s just not great. I thought you were planning on selling this home and buy a new one anyway?
This is something I’ve been considering.
My mortgage renewal is in two years (2014), and even though I’m happy with my rate (3.25%), I’ve been considering moving to variable. From what I hear, I’d be able to get 2.5%, something that I’m going to start looking into as they’re not expect to raise the rates here in Canada at least until spring 2013.
Haven’t refi’d due to our house being underwater and we’re paying PMI. From what I’ve been told by some companies I’ve called, they can’t do much. I did apply for hardship rate reduction (HARP, I believe) through my current lender (as my wife does not have a job now), but I have TONS of paperwork to fill out. I’ll let you know how that goes.
OK, good luck Jacob! Your situation is different b/c of the high LTV. For those who have 80% LTV or lower, please check the latest rates if not within the past 6 months.
It’s good you are taking ACTION Jacob. That really is the most important thing. Paperwork is a pain, but if it saves you thousands after even 10 hours of paperwork, isn’t it worth it?
Absolutely. It hits on your third point, that laziness accounts for thousands of lost dollars to the consumer. Rates are crazy low, and people who don’t ReFi because of the paperwork involved are really losing out. Sounds like Quicken Loans takes a bit of the hassle out of it, though, so no more excuses :)
Yeah, I think all online companies are helping take out the hassle. I opened up three huge CDs with USAA, with each one taking me around 5-6 minutes each. Thank goodness I took action when the rates were at 3.5%-4% a couple years ago! It’s a wonderful income stream.
I’ve heard of Quicken but have never used them myself. There dedinitely are a lot of advantages to these online based businesses. Ally bank is another one that a lot of people love and I know their CD rates are usually some of the highest out there. That’s awesome you’ve refinanced so many times!
We refinanced one of our rental properties with Quicken Loans. It was easy and painless…done all through email. You just have to scan your documents and upload them through their online system. They will even come to your house to do the closing.
Good stuff. Can you talk more about the application fee and their policy on reimbursement? I make SURE when I talk to all mortgage refinance officers and banks that I am reimbursed for my application fee if the mortgage does not go through as promised for whatever reason, or the fee is credited to my account. It always happens b/c fortunately or unfortunately, I have a large primary mortgage.
Kind of weird if someone can’t be bothered, since often times it is free money. I guess b/c my mortgage rate is large from an absolute amount, I am always motivated to get the lowest rate possible. It’s the best way to take advantage of Ben Bernanke’s policies, since my CD and savings rates are also plummeting.
That is a great rate! Did you use an online or offline bank?
This is something that I really need to get on top of. The current interest rates are too tempting to pass up. I have heard the paperwork is massive, though. I am not a fan of waiting either or closing costs. Still, the current market trends don’t seem to want to make me ignore them.
If you have a mortgage, still have a good LTV, and haven’t refinanced in 6 months, at least find out online, e-mail, or call. Whichever method, just find out. I e-mailed my banker this morning, and she said my rental refi for a 5/1 is still at 3.25% as the best she can do. Since I’m at 3.375%, I’ll pass for now. But, now that I know I’m in the “green”, when the 10-year ticks down another 0.125%, I’m checking again.
I refinanced last year and probably will need to check the rate again. I think it’s best to refi as long as it save money too. Quicken loan is fast, but their fee is a bit higher than usual. If you can get no fee financing at your bank, I’d go for that.
Joe, definitely check if your last refi was a year ago! Mine was last fall, and then this Spring, and I just check again and my rate for my rental is 0.125% lower. Not low enough yet for me to bother, but it’s getting there. For Quicken, I suggest talking to someone and making them wave any fees if the loan does not proceed.
I’m waiting a bit until my wife and I are back into our house long enough to do a VA streamline to cut out most of the refinancing costs. We’re also going to go to 15 years on the loan.
We just refied into a VA loan. Do you know how long it takes to do the streamline refi? If I remember right it was 12 months of on-time payments and then you are eligible. I’m not sure if rates will be going any lower to make it worth it, but it would be awesome if they did.
I’m not sure on the time length. Our biggest issue is that you have to physically live in the house to do the streamline and since we PCS’d, we had to make it a rental property. Once the current tenants move out, we’re back in long enough to do the streamline! If you just re-fi’d you are right that you are probably at the lowest rate you’ll get for awhile!
Yes, refing while living in your own home is easier. I did that for my primary, and my rental prior. I have a plan to sell my primary, bank the tax free gains, move back into my rental for two years, and bank those tax free gains as well after refinancing.
Thanks for today’s post! It came along at just the right time, as I have been struggling to even get the refinance paperwork off the ground with Wells Fargo. Between my designated loan officer going off on vacation, disappearing off the radar or just plain dragging his feet in filling out a few numbers for a good faith estimate and emailing me a .pdf, I have been waiting THREE WEEKS to even receive a gfe and I don’t have it YET even though he emailed me hours ago to tell me he was ‘working on it’………
So, I filled out a loan application with Quicken Loans and not even THREE HOURS LATER, I have a loan officer, a tentative loan approval and a user name/password for QL’s website on which is an itemized list of all the documents they need from me and the means to not only e-sign them but to also upload every other piece of info they need back from me. That’s amazing. The loan guy has assured me that he is actively seeking approval from the lender right now. I have already paid a $400 good faith deposit, received a credit report and, all in all, I am super impressed by the speed and efficiency of Quicken Loans. I don’t think it gets much better than this, honestly.
I’m going for a 3.75% 30 year fixed loan, considering our individual situation. Was thinking about a 5/1 ARM but, given our local economy, I want to be able to afford to stay put should we experience another job loss. If we lose a job, we won’t lose the house with this loan.
My biggest deterrant to refinancing my mortgage was laziness, because yes, it is a lot of work. I am glad I got it done a few months ago because I was able to refinance from a 30 year at 5.63% to a 15 year at 3.25%.
Can someone tell me how they get a refinance done without incurring any closing costs?
From one of Samurai’s responses above, it looks like you might need to have a relatively high mortgage balance in order to benefit from no cost refi. I thought I had scored at the bottom by taking a 15 year at 3.75% almost two years ago. And yes I could refi a little lower now but I only have a remaining balance of $150k so it would cost too much. Plus I’m almost 2 years into this loan.
I have been typically refinancing about every 3 years. The last 4 times has been with a no closing cost loan (I only paid closing cost on the first 2 refi). Ya gotta love those credit unions. I am currently planning on doing this one last time to drop another couple of years off the life of the loan next year. I have to wait 3 years between each refi or the credit union wants some of the closing cost back…. go figure. So next year I drop to a 10 year note, roll all the additional payment savings into principal payments and look to pay off my house a few years early.