Refi and Home Finance

We think we are a typical American family. We’ve owned our home for a couple of years and bought our house during a time when we felt like we needed more space since our family had expanded the prior years. We have a minivan to drive our children around and pay monthly on the loan on the car and house. The bills come in each month and we are always surprised how quickly the pay check is spent. We save for the kid’s college education and have a small savings account for unexpected things that come up. With retirement savings and a small stock portfolio we took a hit in October as the markets began to collapse.

We recently decided that refinancing our home could give us extra money monthly for savings and paying off debt. Allowing us to capitalize on the recent low interest rates, we were drawn to refinancing due to the dwindling mortgage markets and the incentives mortgages companies are currently offering.

Like other American families, we are discouraged to see our stocks and investment dwindle to record lows so we felt like finding extra money in our budget could help us solidify our finances with relative ease. Refinancing is just one of the many options in working to gain financial footing in our troubling economy.

It is a time of financial woes. Watching the news at night makes me want to rewind the clock in order to make different decisions in preparation for the doom and gloom we are experiencing.  With trouble in the housing market, the stock market and the job market, is there any aspect of the economy that looks promising?

With interest rates at an all time low, people interested in refinancing are finding excellent rates and cost savings in an environment where good news is hard to come by. Homeowners who have enough equity in their home are finding lenders who need the business after the boom times where refinancing was a standard along with quick sales and growing home values. Mortgages companies are looking for viable customers and are finding the refinancing market one saving grace in a long line of deteriorating markets.

Homeowners find refinancing beneficial, especially if they hadn’t locked into a low interest rate. As home values have decreased, if a home is valued appropriately and the homeowner has enough equity in the home, the low interest rates can lower their monthly mortgage rates. With the need for bright spots in a troubling economy, finding extra money every month can be essential for survival until the economy rebounds.