Benefits of a cash out refinance

Benefits of a cash out refinance

Gaithersburg, MD · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes

Hey all... My wife and I became an accidental landlords in 2011 when we started renting our condo in Denver b/c we moved our family back east to be closer to family. I paid $187K for the condo in 2007. I now owe about $140K and Zillow (not very accurate I know) is telling me that it is now worth about $230K-$240K. We are now currently about 5 years into a 15-year mortgage that we refinanced in 2010.

I'm now thinking about doing a cash-out refinance now to pay off credit card debt that we accrued while my wife wasn't working and staying home with my daughter (cc debt is now down to about $45K from $55K when I started repaying). I'm in massive debt-repayment mode now and I'm trying to wrap my head around whether a cash out refi would be a good use of my condo equity in getting rid of the cc debt. 

On one hand, I can see the benefit of getting about $30K tax-free cash out of the condo on a 4% 15-year 75% LTV refi to pay off the cc debt... but on the other hand, it seems like a) I'm going to be paying interest to borrow my own equity over another 15 years, and b) I would be adding another 5 years back onto the mortgage, which I'm not entirely sure is a good idea. Another pro to refinancing would be that I would be lowering the interest rate from 5.36% down to between 3.75%-4%, so it would lower my current monthly payment. Also (and maybe more importantly), instead of paying pmi when we refinanced in 2010, we did lender-paid mortgage insurance of 0.75%, and so I can't get rid of paying that lpmi until I refinance. Now that I have a decent amount of equity in the condo, I feel like the lpmi is just throwing money away.

As a little background, the area where we have the condo in South Denver has really bounced back over the last couple years. We've not really had any problems keeping it rented, and have even talked about moving back there when we retire in 20-25 years or so... so at this point there are no plans to get rid of or sell the condo. Despite the amount of cc debt, we still have pretty decent credit with FICO scores above 720 (just barely).

Sorry, if that was a lot to take in... Anyone have any thoughts about the cash out refi and whether it might be a good option for me? Are there any pros/cons of going the refi route that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance.

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  • Bill S.Pro Member
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    Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 4k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    11y

    @Michael Shahan you don't have to get another 15 year loan. You can get a 10 year loan. You can also get a 15 year loan and pay it down faster by making a larger payment.

    You should absolutely refi to get rid of the lpmi that is making your effective rate much higher. It is likely that if you lower your interest rate and wrap the CC debt into the principal amount your payment won't go up that much. The CC interest rate is also much higher so that will also drop your payment as well.

    There are many other options but since you asked about what you did that I what I would do based on what you said.

  • Gaithersburg, MD · Member since 2015 · 4 posts · 0 votes
    11y

    @Bill S. Great Advice. Thank you sir!

  • Realtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y

    @Michael Shahan Refi is a must, however you might look at the 30 year. It provides a little protection with a lower payment just in case something unforeseen happens. You can always pay more to finish it in 15 years, but you can't pay less than allowed on a 15 year.

    You'll have to run the numbers, but you should be able to cash out and still have 20% worth of equity for the no PMI refi. I'll PM you some info. If you want me to run some quick comps, just let me know;)

  • Lender · Denver, CO · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 597 votes
    11y

    @Michael Shahan You mentioned not wanting to sell - looks like your best option based on your goal to pay down debt. 

    Otherwise a refi is a good use of the equity for a rate reduction - $30k over 15 years at 4% will cost you 30k in interest.

    Would you buy this condo today if you didn't own it?

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