A refinance calculator cannot answer the “should I refinance?” question. Only you or a Trusted mortgage adviser going over those numbers with you can answer that question.
Here are some refinancing questions you could expect to answer / have answered.
Is your property listed for sale? If yes a refi is probably a waste of closing cost money unless you own free and clear and would like to use some of the cash out now.
Do you plan on selling within the next 36 months? See above
If you are not selling soon then it’s pretty easy to answer the “should I refinance?” question. Take the monthly savings and divide that by the amount of the closing costs. This is how many months it takes to break even. So if your costs are $3400 and your payment is lowered $100 per month using the same term you have now and new interest rate. You will make your first $100 in savings after the thirty-fifth month.
Because interest rates are so low and recently they were as high as 6.5% most people will realize their savings much quicker these days.
An easier way to look at this is if you finance all closing costs then you have improved your cash flow from month one. You can only realize a net loss if you pay off your loan before the XX month recapture of closings costs.
If you would like to know if refinancing is for you, then shoot me an email and I will personally work up a refinance cost recapture worksheet for you.
If you are selling or planing to pay off look as a no closing cost or low closing cost loan where the broker pays some costs for your from the lender credit or rebate. You will get a slightly higher rate but the time is takes to for the loan to pay for itself can be reduced to zero if priced correctly by your mortgage broker.
