Will you want some cash with that ?...

Freddie Mac reported this week that 79 % of homeowners who refinanced their first-lien home mortgage either maintained about the same loan amount or lowered their principal balance by paying-in additional money at the closing table in the first quarter of 2012.

Of these borrowers, 58 percent maintained about the same loan amount, and 21 percent of refinancing homeowners reduced their principal balance; the share of borrowers that kept about the same loan amount was the highest in the 26-year history of the analysis.

“Cash-out" borrowers, those who increased their loan balance by at least 5%, represented 21% of all refinance loans; the weighted average cash-out share during the 1985 to 2008 period was 50 percent.

The median interest rate reduction for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was about

1.5 % points, or a savings of about 27 % in interest rate, the largest percent reduction recorded in the 27 years of analysis. Over the first year of the refinance loan life, the median borrower will save about $2,900 in interest payments on a $200,000 loan.

More info on this Freddie Mac article.

Francis Rolland

Silicon Valley Real Estate

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