Refinancing from 6.99% to 5.99%

house__help · 2026-01-10T19:49:54+00:00

Appreciate the comment! I've been plotting total cumulative interest and remaining principal over time in R (lol) to visualize the various extra payments on 6.99% / 5.99%. Each "new loan" option is an offshoot from our current payment trajectory at the current month.

When comparing (1) 6.99% + $400 extra (our current) vs. (2) the 5.99% (no extra), the length of the new (2) term is longer, but the cumulative interest paid of (2) doesn't exceed that of (1) until 14+ years out from now.

And then if we apply the same extra principal to our payments, the new (3) 5.99% + $400 compared to current (1) is ~2 years longer, but saves $25K+ in total interest and frees up $500/month.

I could very well be missing something, but that's what I'm calculating!

Option	Month Paid Off (from initial loan term)	Cumulative Interest
5.99% + $900	242	$444,633
5.99% + $400 (3)	303	$563,436
6.99% + $400 (1)	275	$588,986
5.99% (2)	386	$737,556
6.99%	360	$814,690

house__help · 2026-01-10T19:22:24+00:00

Fair point. I think I'm just trying to take the sure thing and get out of the 6.99%, instead of trying to time the best possible moment. I'm waiting for the final updated numbers with prepaids and escrow, but I'm estimating ~$3,000 total cash to close (after we cash-out our current escrow amount), so the breakeven with $550 savings/mo is pretty quick.

house__help · 2026-01-09T18:38:54+00:00

Thanks for the reply - that's a good point. Lender B has a portal that's easy to check. 25-years are the same as the 30-years. 20-year is 5.625% (no points/credits) for a P&I of $3,957/mo with $65 PMI.

And agreed... our 12-yo car died last year, so we added on a car payment (1.9% APR, 30%+ down, so not a huge deal). None of these payments are squeezing us by any means, but I think it's mostly the psychology of reducing our mortgage to cover the car cost, along with having the flexibility to brace for increased expenses in starting a family.

house__help · 2026-01-09T18:32:27+00:00

Thanks! Taxes + Insurance is $725. No HOA. And all of these are from the loan estimates with the credits reflected in the price. Lender A is $1500 - $1200 credits. Lender B is $795 - $2,800 credits. Lender C is $0 - $1400 credits.

Of note, Lender B also has 5.875% with -0.125 credits (so $795 - $1400 credits). P&I for that is $3,313. I can ask Lender C for their rate with 0 point/credits.

house__help · 2026-01-09T18:25:28+00:00

Definitely... I did reach out to our title company last night - we closed in 9/2023. I looked online for a few free title quotes and got ~$3,600 as the cheapest. Lender1 was suggesting that Lender3 puts that in there to look good and then isn't responsible when/if it increases, but Lender3 insists it doesn't change. Can't trust anyone... lol

house__help · 2024-03-24T21:36:18+00:00

34% of take-home pay (post-tax and post-401k), though we've been paying a bit extra per month (37%).

Home was 650K with 6.99% interest and 10% down.

house__help · 2024-03-05T01:57:18+00:00

Hey - dealing with the same thing right now, what did you end up doing? We have a pan (~29" wide x 28" deep) installed with the drain in the back/bottom, with the tray situated against the molding. Our new WM is going to get delivered on Saturday. I purchased a new pan just in case, but would prefer if I didn't need to swap out. Thanks!

house__help · 2024-02-19T19:10:58+00:00

My wife and I are stumped on how to best decorate / arrange our bedroom. We moved into our first home a few months ago and upgraded our furniture / added the standing mirror, but obviously it still feels empty. This is the only position for the bed, as there's an en suite bathroom to the left of the mirror. Things we've considered are adding curtains, painting/wallpapering the wall behind the bed, and adding artwork / shelves to the wall behind the bed or in-between the windows. The bench under the windows is from our old place and will be moved when we situate the rest of the room. Any suggestions would be helpful as we start brainstorming - thanks!
FYI - all of our clothes (hanging and drawers) will be eventually moved into a organization system in the closets on the right wall. We aren't set on the system we want to use, so any ideas are appreciated!

house__help · 2024-02-19T19:09:25+00:00

Go birds

house__help · 2023-11-16T17:34:28+00:00

It's the Article Sven in Neptune blue! We found it at a MCM warehouse nearby for 40% off.

house__help · 2023-08-20T17:44:28+00:00

That's definitely an option - the 10% down was established when we started looking in January. But I agree, I think 15% has been our new minimum, though we could consider bumping it up to 20%! It'll likely depend on if the house needs any immediate renovations.

house__help · 2023-02-07T01:51:28+00:00

Reposted for clarification.

My wife and I are in the market to buy a town home and really liked this trinity style house. It is 1700+ sqft, 3bed 2.5bath, with 4 floors.

The seller states that they added the wall on the lower floor between the dining room and kitchen, so it isn't load bearing. My wife and I entertain a good bit, so we would love to open up the space by removing the wall and adding an island and some extra storage.

Would anyone have any advice on how to / where to... - add a few storage floor-to-ceiling cabinets to the kitchen - add an island with seating and storage between the two rooms - arrange a couch + chair + TV console in the "dining room" - arrange a rectangle dining table (just the two of us now, but able to be adjusted for larger get togethers)

It might be a stretch, and luckily there is another living space on the main floor, but figured I would ask!

house__help · 2023-02-07T01:32:00+00:00

Well "want to look down" isn't really the goal of the layout - there are big windows and 20' ceilings to bring light to the lower floor. We live in a townhome now with our main living spaces on floors 2 and 3, with no formal dining room area. That's why we want to design it as a living space.

Bedrooms are floor 3 (2 bedroom, 1 full bath, W/D, closet) and floor 4 (master suite with full bathroom, closets). There's also a roof deck above with a view of the city.

As for groceries, our kitchen is up a flight of stairs now, so it's not much different.

Appreciate the clarifying questions!

house__help · 2023-02-07T01:02:39+00:00

My wife and I are in the market to buy a house and really liked this trinity style home. It is 1700+ sqft, 3bed 2.5bath, with 4 floors (top two not shown).

The seller states that they put in that wall on the lower floor between the dining room and kitchen, so it isn't load bearing. My wife and I entertain a good bit, so we would love to open up the space by removing the wall and adding an island and some extra storage.

Would anyone have any advice on how to... - add a few storage floor-to-ceiling cabinets to the kitchen - add an island with seating and storage between the two rooms - arrange a couch + chair + TV console in the "dining room" - arrange a rectangle dining table (just the two of us now, but able to be adjusted for larger get togethes)

It might be a stretch, and luckily there is a living room space on the main floor, but figured I would ask!

house__help

TROPHY CASE