First of all, I'm so grateful for all the concerned SAers who have been offering advice and opinions on my refi musings.
I got AIMloan's estimate and used the ranty email from the local broker to send a bunch of questions to AIMloan. I also went on the Bogleheads forum and couldn't find very many negative comments about AIMloan. (One was about their servicing, not the closing, but apparently they sell most loans, so they might not end up servicing.)
I'm still feeling a bit queasy about it, like I hope this isn't a Nigerian email scam type thing where I'm chasing an elusive profit and keep putting more into it.
After I asked questions and gave more details about the refi (including that it was a duplex), the so-far very patient guy at AIMloan sent me one more estimate. It's not nearly as good a deal as the original rough estimate, but still substantially better than the local guy.
I'm leaning toward locking in a rate, getting a formal quote, and then taking it to the ranty guy to see if he can do better.
I'm circling two main options:
3.25%
$8537.55 closing costs plus $2098.66 escrow prepay= $10,636.21
Bring $2636.21 to closing and roll $8000 into mortgage
P&I payment $1793.05, total payment w/escrow $2564.91
OR
3.5%
$4200 closing costs plus $2098.66 escrow prepay= $6306.09
Bring $2300 to closing and roll $4000 into mortgage
P&I payment $1850.06, total payment w/escrow $2621.92
The local guy's offer was:
3.5%
$7325 closing costs plus $1710 escrow prepay= $9035
Bring $2035 to closing and roll $7000 into mortgage
P&I payment $1850, total payment w/escrow $2621.83
All of these are improvements on my current loan payment, which is $3102.
I feel like I should do something, but I'm very nervous about making a decision. I suppose if I got shafted by AIM and had to back out or it fell through, it would be a $495 mistake (for the appraisal) and not ruinous. It just feels scary to play with this much debt.
I guess I'm actually considering an online refi
August 11th, 2016 at 09:41 pm
August 11th, 2016 at 10:17 pm 1470950233
It costs a lot to buy down the rate these days. You may be on the edge with the appraisal. Even if you have to come up with all of the $6,306.09 to make it work, you will still break even fairly quickly at 3.5 percent. The 3.5 percent results in a slightly higher payment by $57. If you are concerned about the appraisal, I would probably go for the higher rate and leave the option open to pay the costs up front if that makes the difference in whether the loan goes through.
August 11th, 2016 at 11:32 pm 1470954765
August 12th, 2016 at 01:55 am 1470963335
Nail down the value before you spend any money.