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By Don Taylor, Ph.D., CFA & CFP
Published May 23, 2011 | Bankrate.com
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Dear Dr. Don,
I currently have a 6%, interest-only, five-year ARM,
which is scheduled to readjust next April. I would
like to sell this property, but I would sustain a
substantial loss in today's market. I could refinance,
but the closing costs are considerable.
My current lender has told me that the first rate Sponsored Links Buy a link here
adjustment would be 2.25% plus the Libor index Refi for 2.50%/3.03% APR
published Feb. 16, 2012, and could conceivably be Under $729k loan probably qualifies for Government Refinance Programs.
lower than my existing rate. Would it be a mistake Bills.com
to wait until next February before deciding on what action to take?
-- Frank Forecast Are You Prepared?
Pay as little as $13.04/mon for Life Insurance. Get Quotes Now.
Dear Frank, www.QuoteWhiz.com
Interest-only mortgages typically aren't interest-only forever -- usually just the first five to 10 years of the
loan. You need to know when your interest-only loan converts to an amortized mortgage. With an AARP® 50+ Auto Insurance
Over 50? You Could Save an Average $364* On AARP® Auto Ins From The Hartford.
amortized mortgage, the loan payment is sized to cover the month's interest expense plus pay off the AARP.TheHartford.com
loan over the remaining loan term. You can calculate an amortized payment using Bankrate's mortgage
calculator.
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Libor is the London Interbank Offered Rate. It's the interest rate banks charge other banks to borrow
reserves in the London market. There are a lot of different Libor indexes, so you need to know which one FOX50 -10.91 891.87
FOX 50 INDEX 1:03 PM
your mortgage uses when setting its interest rate. Bankrate reports four different Libor indexes. If your
mortgage were to reset based on Libor indexes posted May 11, 2011, by adding 2.25% to any one of
these Libor rates, you'd end up with a mortgage rate of 3% or less. GS +2.39 135.92
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You'll also want to know if the interest rate on your mortgage is subject to limitations on how much the
interest rate can move on a reset date and over the life of the loan. These are known as loan caps. The MSFT -0.26 23.70
loan also may have a floor rate that establishes the minimum interest rate on the loan. If so, you wouldn't MICROSOFT COR... 1:00 PM 'Recovery' Creating More
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be able to capture a low rate on the reset date.
Sponsored Links Closing costs shouldn't be excessive. In Bankrate's 2010 Closing Costs Study,
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Refi for 2.50%/3.03% the national average for closing costs on a $200,000 purchase mortgage was Toward NY...
APR $3,741.
Under $729k loan probably XOM -1.40 79.78
qualifies for Government EXXON MOBIL C... 1:02 PM Refinery Status: Valero Port
Refinance... If you want to wait for your home's value to appreciate, you have a longer Arthur...
Bills.com planning horizon than the next reset date on your mortgage. With a longer
horizon, refinancing at today's low rates can buy you time without taking on
$350,000 Life Insurance the interest rate risk of an annual reset on an adjustable-rate mortgage.
Coverage as low as $13.
04/month. Free, No As I write this column, the Bankrate national average for a 30-year, fixed-rate
Obligation Quotes.
www.QuoteWhiz.com mortgage is 4.82% and a new 5/1 ARM (not interest-only) is 3.52%.
Buy a link here Once you know the particulars of your interest-only mortgage, you can make Avoiding 'Short-Termism' Is Investors' Challenge -
Fink
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New Bank Fees are interest rates or commit to refinancing your home. Bankrate's weekly Pimco's Gross: Bond Investors 'Repressed' By
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