Signs That Refinancing Your Home Is A Good Idea

People across the nation are trying to determine whether now is a good time to try to refinance their home or if they should wait for a more favorable financial climate. Refinancing your home at the right time could result in great financial gains and more financial freedom for you at a time where a global credit crunch is making it much harder for some individuals to receive alternative financing options to purchase the items that they desire. On the other hand, refinancing your home at the wrong time and in the wrong financial climate could result in the individual getting in over their heads on their mortgage and could ultimately end in financial devastation, as many homeowners across the nation are now discovering as their homes face foreclosure.

So how do you know whether now is the right time to refinance your home? There are a several signs that the homeowner can look for to determine whether or not the financial climate in their area will make it worth their while to devote the time and energy to refinancing their home. These signs are easy to spot if you know what you are looking for and keeping an eye out for the signs will ensure that you refinance your home in the best financial climate possible.

Sign #1 – You Qualify For A Much Lower Interest Rate
Individuals that purchased their home when their credit was less than stellar often received a higher interest rate than they wanted for their mortgage. If you have repaired your credit and raised your credit score by a significant amount, then you may be able to qualify for a lower interest rate on your mortgage if you refinance. It is important to make your choice carefully and only refinance if the interest rate on your mortgage will be lowered by a significant amount, generally more than 2% which will not make much of a difference in your monthly payments.

Sign #2 – You Signed Up For An Adjustable Rate Mortgage
Many individuals today are deeply regretting the fact that they signed up for an adjustable rate mortgage that seemed so attractive on paper, but is wreaking financial havoc on their lives now that their rates have begun to rise. In the beginning, exotic adjustable rate mortgages were much desired because they allowed people to purchase a bigger home than they could typically afford and had a lower monthly payment, but when the interest rate rose on the mortgage, many people found that their payments had reached an unmanageable level. If you can qualify to refinance your home with a fixed rate mortgage without being subjected to numerous fees and penalties, you may be able to save a great deal of money over time on your mortgage payments.

Sign #3 – You Intend To Improve Your Home
Refinancing your home to obtain equity to improve your home will pay off in the long run as the improvements increase the value of your home. Using the equity in your home to pay for vacations or plastic surgery is generally a waste of money because it will take such a long period of time to rebuild the equity in your home, much longer than if you just put a little money aside to pay for the item in the future. If you are unable to afford to put money away to save for the purchase because your finances are stretched thin, then you probably should not be making expensive additional purchases anyway and taking equity out of your home will only make the situation worse.