Best way to refinance out of a 5/1 FHA Loan

[Laura Levine]

Good morning! I'm looking for some suggestions regarding how to refinance out of my current 5/1 FHA loan that we took out when we bought a two-family investment property. We did the FHA so we could keep the cash for the reno, but now that the reno is completed we should have over 20% equity. I want to get rid of the PMI as well as locking in the lower rates of the current market before rates start climbing too much. The problem is, our reno went way over budget and now we have a pretty high Debt/Income ratio. We do live there, so it's an owner occupied 2-family and we are located in North Jersey. We also need to refinance with little to no upfront costs. Any suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks!

[Laura Levine]

@rafael - Thanks for your feedback! I was thinking about a HELOC, but wasn't sure if I should save that for when we want to buy another property in a couple years? Maybe that's the best idea though.

We do have a pretty good rate 3.75%, but I'm worried that by the time it expires (in about 4 years at this point) that rates will be significantly higher. Also, we're paying over $300/m in PMI that just seems like a waste? I keep getting offers in the mail about how the PMI rate was reduced to .85% in 1/15...do you know anything about that?

We haven't quite decided when we will move again, probably within 5 years though.  

I didn't think about the property tax escrow...can't I just use the money that's already in escrow with the current loan?