Refinancing

The rush to refinance home mortgages will not only continue well into 1992, it is likely to accelerate, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Last year, 1.5 million homeowners refinanced their mortgages, and 3 million are expected to do so in 1992, the trade group said last week. Those estimates, for all mortgage lenders, are based on the MBA's weekly survey of about 20 large mortgage companies. The trade group said it was taking an average of 50 days from application to closing a loan, up from 30 days before the current boom in refinancing started.

Refinancing your mortgage? Fine, but time it right. Getting your house reappraised so you can cancel private mortgage insurance? Good idea, but call the lender before calling an appraiser. If you don't attend to details and communicate with the lender, you could waste money, from a little to a lot. Here is a little-known way that you can trip up - and how to save money or avoid spending it needlessly. When you refinance your mortgage with another lender, you almost always pay at least a day or two of overlapping interest on both loans.

The Lumberton school board is hoping to save $1.1 million by taking advantage of lower interest rates and refinancing its lease-purchase agreement on the district's two-year-old Middle School on Eayrestown Road. David Thompson, president of Cypress Securities of Cherry Hill, said yesterday that his company was acting as the underwriter on a transaction to change the interest rate the district is paying on its certificates of participation, which are similar to bond notes, from 7.7 percent to 5.25 percent.

Township residents will have the chance to follow the lead of homeowners nationwide Tuesday when they vote on whether to cash in on lower interest rates by refinancing $17.1 million in school bonds. Officials estimate that if the measure passes, the township could save between $6 million and $7 million over the next 17 years. In 1990, the township borrowed $19 million to pay for renovations and additions to the high school, the middle school and three elementary schools - work that is now largely complete.

Hurry. It's time to save big bucks by refinancing your home mortgage. Quick, grab the newspaper or loan guide and find the lowest interest rate. That's the key to saving the most on monthly payments. But homeowners who only study rates could be in for a rude surprise. They might end up with a 1-year adjustable rate mortgage at 5.5 percent interest. On a $100,000 ARM loan, the monthly payment would be only $568, or $200 less than a fixed-rate loan at 8.5 percent. Great deal, huh?

The interest rate on my home mortgage is above 11 percent, so I think I should refinance. But I looked into getting a new mortgage from several local lenders and I learned they want to charge me for a new appraisal (my loan is only about three years old), new title insurance and new loan fees. Is there any way I can save on these costs of refinancing? Yes. Most major mortgage lenders and finance providers, such as VA, FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have special "streamlined" refinancing programs.

I stopped at Cohen's Hardware at Fifth Street and Passyunk Avenue recently. While owner Mitchell Cohen was ringing up my hose washers, I remembered that he had e-mailed me a while back about a problem with refinancing his mortgage. "Did you ever get the refi?" I asked. He wondered how I knew, so I identified myself. Cohen said he was, indeed, able to refinance his home loan, but it wasn't easy, even for an established businessman who pays loans, bills, and suppliers regularly and on time.

Continuing declines in fixed interest rates prompted a 9.2 percent increase in mortgage applications last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Most of the increase came, however, from refinancing. The percentage of loans for refinancing increased to 74.9 percent from 72.1 percent the previous week. The percentage of mortgages for buying a house fell 2.4 percent from the previous week. Fewer adjustable-rate loans were originated last week, falling to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent of all applications.

The Marple Newtown school board will vote tonight on the refinancing of the district's two existing bond issues and the borrowing of additional money for capital improvements. The district now maintains about $6.5 million in debt from two bond issues underwritten in 1986 and 1989 by Dolphin & Bradbury Inc., a Philadelphia investment firm. Officials had expressed interest in June in refinancing the issues at an interest rate lower than the 6.7 percent existing rate and borrowing an additional $1.5 million, and asked Dolphin & Bradbury to prepare several bond-restructuring proposals.

The rush to refinance home mortgage loans has grown so hectic that some lenders have temporarily stopped accepting applications, at least for some kinds of loans. And many of the lenders that are still taking applications are unable to schedule appointments with borrowers as quickly as they normally would, and they're taking longer to approve loans. "We've been swamped," said Gary Gordon, vice president and manager of the mortgage banking department at Main Line Federal Savings Bank.

DO YOU HAVE refinance envy? Come on, you can admit it. You've been at an event or lunch with co-workers and someone brags about the interest rate she just got when refinancing her mortgage. You stay silent, grieving that you can't take advantage of the low interest rates for mortgages. You grumble when you read news stories like this one from the Associated Press on Thursday: "Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell closer this week to their historic lows, making homeownership more affordable and refinancing more attractive.

Arriving days after legislators were promised a detailed cost estimate of the proposed overhaul of New Jersey's system of higher education, a new Christie administration analysis indicates that the proposal could save money in the long run. The "fiscal note" from the Department of Treasury is the most comprehensive analysis to come from advocates of the plan. Dated Thursday and addressed to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, it was obtained Wednesday night by The Inquirer.

Refinancing is making up the majority of new mortgages right now, and with mortgage rates at historic lows, you may be thinking of jumping into the pool. These sites offer guidance. Ask the "mortgage professor. " The details of refinancing — and options that many borrowers never get to hear about — are explored here. Example: Instead of getting a new mortgage, would your current mortgage holder modify your existing loan by lowering the rate? Who would even know to ask?

Continuing declines in fixed interest rates prompted a 9.2 percent increase in mortgage applications last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Most of the increase came, however, from refinancing. The percentage of loans for refinancing increased to 74.9 percent from 72.1 percent the previous week. The percentage of mortgages for buying a house fell 2.4 percent from the previous week. Fewer adjustable-rate loans were originated last week, falling to 5.4 percent from 5.7 percent of all applications.

Government-owned, taxpayer-funded trash-to-energy plants in Harrisburg and Camden County have fallen many millions below the financial projections of the people who sold them years ago. It's not that ugly in Montgomery County, but even there, towns are burning less trash than expected: Moody's Investors Service this week cut its credit rating for Montgomery County Industrial Development Authority's $34 million 2002 bond issue, which is...

The son of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, whose political-consulting business is already under FBI investigation, has been sued for failing to repay a $56,000 bank loan. Chaka Fattah Jr. received the loan Dec. 30 from United Bank, apparently a refinancing of another United loan from earlier in the year, bank documents show. But he failed to make any payments, according to the suit, and the bank filed its collection case just 12 days after the FBI served search warrants at a law office where Fattah Jr. worked and at his apartment in the Residences at the Ritz Carlton in Center City.

WASHINGTON - The average rate on the 30-year mortgage edged down this week to hover again above record lows. Cheaper rates have spurred modest improvements in the battered housing market, but not enough to signal a recovery. Mortgage rates have been below 4 percent for more than three months. That has made home-buying and refinancing more attractive for those who can qualify. Home sales have improved and the four-week average of home-purchase applications was up a smidge last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Freddie Mac said that 85 percent of borrowers refinancing mortgages in the fourth quarter either maintained about the same amount or lowered principal balance by paying in money at closing - a 26-year high. Those borrowers who increased their loan balance through refinancing by at least 5 percent by cashing out equity represented 15 percent of all refinance loans, the lowest percentage in the 26 years, Freddie Mac said. Borrowers reduced rates by a median of 1.4 percentage points, or a savings of about 26 percent in 30-year interest rate.

The housing industry has been appealing for a coherent policy that will end the market's five-year-old downturn and get real estate moving. What President Obama offered Tuesday night in his State of the Union address, though welcomed by many, does not appear to be all the industry had in mind. The President proposed to allow up to four million homeowners to refinance into loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, an action Obama said would save individuals an average of $3,000 annually.

By Daniel Akst For a long time, everyone knew that Greece was never going to pay all its debts; they were just too large. Lo and behold, Europe's leaders put their heads together and announced a plan to have banks accept 50 cents on the euro for them. There's a lesson for us Americans in all this, but it's not about profligacy. We all know that lesson full well by now: It's that we're not going to pay all our debts either. This will seem shameful to some of us and justifiable to others, given the policies and practices that led to so much debt in the first place, and the big-money bailouts that followed.