Is it worth it to refinance and take a new 30 year mortgage?

When rates make a refinance seem favorable, a common question is, “should I save money on the interest rate even though I am starting my mortgage over from the beginning?”

The good news is that you can have your cake and eat it too!

Let’s start by looking at an example. Assume a borrower obtained a $200,000 mortgage 4 years ago. Now say that interest rates have declined, offering them the ability to save 1% on the interest rate. The remaining balance is about $192,000. They are thinking about refinancing because they will save $189 per month. The only negative here is that they will be starting from the beginning on their mortgage payments and will now have 4 additional years before the loan is fully paid (30 years on the new mortgage instead of the 26 years on the current loan). The borrowers like the savings, but wonder how they will ever get out of mortgage debt.

Some lenders suggest going to a 20-year term or even a 15-year term to solve this dilemma. The problem with either of these potential solutions is that the new payments will actually be higher than the original mortgage loan. In most cases the borrowers main objective is to reduce their monthly payments.

Some claim it is not worth refinancing because the sum of the payments for the new loan’s 30-year term will be greater than the sum of the payments on the current loans remaining 26-year term. This is a ridiculous argument and one that has prevented many borrowers from saving substantial dollars. Some also say that since you are deeper in the amortization schedule there is some mystical transition that occurs. They claim you should be forced to pay a higher rate so not to give up the “magic” of the mid term amortization. The fact is that the savings of $189 per month could have been invested or utilized to created significant value.

But there is an even easier and safer way.

How do we solve this problem? The solution is surprisingly simple. Instead of refinancing the remaining balance of $192,000, the borrower should refinance the original loan amount of $200,000. At the time of closing, the borrower receives a check for $200,000 and pays off the old mortgage loan of $192,000. This leaves the borrower with $8,000 extra cash at the time of closing. The borrower then immediately pre pays the new mortgage by the $8,000 cash they now have in hand. By doing this the new mortgage loan has a remaining time frame of exactly 26-years! The sacrifice is that the monthly savings is reduced from $189 to a still respectable $138.

Paying a lower interest rate will save you money unless the closing costs to do get the lower rate are too great to be recovered in a reasonable timeframe.

This article is based on information and research from articles written by Barry Habib