As a team of property advisors and real estate agents here at Shoreline Property Advisors, we oftentimes get questions about refinancing. While refinancing your home can have positive outcomes, it’s important to recognize that refinancing your New Buffalo home is still a large decision that needs to be handled carefully.
Whether you’re considering refinancing your New Buffalo homes in hopes of cashing in on the currently low interest rates, or you’re facing hard times due to recent changes in your finances; we want to help you navigate through this process. Below you’ll find five of the most common mistakes that are made when refinancing that you’ll want to be sure to avoid when refinancing your New Buffalo home. Take a look!
1. Over-estimating the value of the home- Although home prices have fallen over the past few years, homeowners still put high value on their homes. As a result, they receive higher-than-expected loan offers. Your New Buffalo Real Estate agent will be able to show you what comparable homes in your neighborhood are currently selling for so you can get a better idea of what your home is worth.
2. Hesitating to lock in low rates- Waiting for rates to drop even lower can be the biggest mistake as there’s no promise that rates will remain low. Take the opportunity now to lock in these historically low rates before it’s too late.
3. Focusing only on interest rates- While interest rates are important, those aren’t the only factors to consider when refinancing your New Buffalo home. Lender fees, loan terms and even lender reputations will play a role in refinancing. Using online tools, such as Mortgage Professor to run all the numbers can be useful to determine if financing is even the right choice for you.
4. Overlooking shorter-term loans- Although the 30-year mortgage loan is the most popular, remember that there are 20 or 15-year mortgages that may be a better option. These shorter loans can save significant amounts of money since you’ll be reducing the amount of paid interest over time.
5. Not knowing what documents are required to refinance- It’s important to know which documents are needed before you begin to refinance. For those of you who haven’t taken out a mortgage or refinanced lately, you may be surprised to find there’s more documentation needed than in the past. Pay stubs, two months of banking and other financial statements, two years of W-2’s are just some of the documents required to refinance.
As you can see, there are refinancing mistakes that can easily be avoided. Talking with your trusted New Buffalo Real Estate agent will help ensure you get all the information needed before proceeding with the refinancing process.
Of course, as always, we’re here to help in any way possible! You should never feel like you have to guess on your next move in the New Buffalo Real Estate market; we are happy to answer any questions you have about buying, selling, investing or refinancing. Feel free to contact us today! We look forward to working with you!
Shoreline Property Advisors
@ Prudential Rubloff
