"In The Box"

It's great to think outside the box. But sometimes, being "in the box" is the best place to be:

One of my blog stalkers asked yesterday (via her husband) who we are refinancing through. This came about three hours after telling my mortgage company that I was going to blog about the great program they offer. If you're considering refinancing, do yourself a favor and read on! If you're yawning from two successive mortgage posts, my sincere apologies!

When I did some shopping around for our refinance, I discovered that my preferred lender would charge $4,000 in closing costs. My next-favorite lender, Countrywide, would also charge ridiculous amounts of money for me to give them their business. (I don't own a Costco card because I don't believe I should have to PAY someone for the privilege of giving them my business. I'm a brat that way.) Another place I called charges a whopping 4% origination fee! And I doubt they even blush when they kick people like that.

My brother recommended a place called "Box Home Loans." BHL is the brainchild of a company that we refinanced with years earlier. We had a good experience then so I looked into it.

The idea behind Box Home Loans goes like this: they only deal with people who have immaculate credit and a good LTV (loan-to-value ratio), and in return they offer the best rates imaginable. They also let you choose your rate vs. closing costs, so you can tailor the program to exactly what you want. We went with the closest-to-no-cost rate, which is 5.625% right now. We could have spent an extra $1,500 to get a 5.5% but I'm not "settled" enough to risk the extra money right now. Or we could have gone to a higher rate and had them pay for the privilege of refinancing. And the great thing is you can do this all online so you're not talking to a pushy salesperson. That's a must for me.

To summarize: we're refinancing for $150, instead of $4,000. And we're dealing with a great company. If you fit "inside the box" (credit about 700, 90% or better LTV and it's your primary residence), go give BHL a call. I reserve the right to change my mind later if they give us fits, as mortgage companies are so apt to do. ;)

When we bought our home, we got a 7/1 ARM loan which started at 4.75% for the first seven years. Pardon my valley girlishness when I say, "Freakin' awesome!" But we went a tad over budget and had to throw the extra money into a home equity loan, which we later refinanced to include our car. That loan is at 6.49%. Knowing that our ARM is a ticking time bomb, I have been watching mortgage rates for a long time. When they got to 6.25% last year, I was tempted. Then they dipped to 6.125% and I almost pulled the trigger, but waited. Rates went up again so I lost interest.

Yesterday, when I checked rates, they had dropped to 5.625%! Freakin' awesome! Still, with the word "recession" being bandied about more and more often, I thought the chances of future rate cuts might be pretty good. But I jumped anyway, because I am really not the gambling type. This morning, I went to the Mortgage Matters blog, expecting to hear a bit of talk about this and I wasn't disappointed. Everything Holden Lewis said confirmed to me that this is a really rare opportunity to get an amazing rate. Go read it if you're considering refinancing.