New year financing strategies

Take time now to review your financial health. Investigate some of these ways you might re-arrange your financing to save money this year and beyond.

Refinance your home loan for a lower interest rate or lower monthly payment. Change your adjustable rate mortgage to a fixed rate, or combine your first and second mortgages into one loan. Move credit card debt into your mortgage payment. Take a new shorter-term loan and pay off your home sooner. Address family matters, whether you need to buy a former spouse off title or free up cash to pay college tuition. Take cash out in preparation for buying your first rental property.

Be proactive and ask about refinancing now, while interest rates are still low. Don’t just make assumptions, good or bad, about whether you qualify for new financing. Step one is to run scenarios to see if refinancing is a benefit to your family, and step two is to see if current lending guidelines and property values work in your favor. You won’t know what’s possible until you ask.

Tammy Engel is your local Mortgage Advisor, and has been working for your best interest since 1990.

Contact her at 661/822-7325 about purchase, refinance, and reverse mortgage.