Sure, my rate is 5.87/30 fixed, I bought in 2000, and I owe about 180k.
That’s not a bad rate in this environment.
Gotta ask a couple more questions:
- are you deducting your mortgage interest?
- would losing the mortgage interest deduction (if you take it) raise your tax bracket or cause you to lose other deductions?
- do you want to pay this off just to save the interest expense, or to gain the security of owning the property free & clear, etc?
You don’t need to worry about things like a rate adjust, the way ARM borrowers do, your rate wouldn’t go that much lower if you re-fi’ed right now, you’ve already paid a pretty good chunk of the interest you’re going to pay on the note. In this environment, cash is king, and you’d be giving up cash when getting a mortgage to get cash out of a paid-off house isn’t as easy or quick as it used to be... so there’s a consideration that you’re giving up flexibility and investment options to pay down this note.
Thoughts?