The refinance dance

I hate virtually everything about it - the excessive paperwork, the intrusive questions, the nickel and diming, the legal requirements, the notary requirements, the completely redundant exercise and cost of title insurance. And probably the biggest poke in the eye this time around is knowing that millions of people went through the same process in the past ten years - a process that is supposed to allow only the "qualified" to pass - and ended up with loans that they never should have had and for which we are all paying. As I scan the documents that we've been requested to provide, I can't help but wonder if anything has really changed.

So why am I doing this? you inquire. I was even making fun of the whole deal just a couple of weeks ago. Bragging rights. That's what it's all about: bragging rights. Five years from now when a bunch of the guys are sitting around the barbecue discussing everything from the latest game statistics to the reason California can't govern itself out of debt, someone wiill say, "Y'know I'm sitting really pretty with a 5% fixed rate mortgage." And I'll try to change the subject because I still have a 5.625% mortgage. It won't matter that he paid extra points to lower his rate or that he had to get a 15 year term to that good a rate and his monthly payments are actually twice what mine are. He will still have bragging rights.

On the other hand, if you can get bragging rights, lower your monthly payments, get some cash out for replacing the roof tiles, and break even in less than 5 years, then maybe it's worth it. I ceertainly hope so.