Skipping 2 house payments

Skipping a house payment is actually used occasionally as a marketing strategy for refinancing.  It is especially nice around the holidays when extra cash is always needed.  It is pretty common knowledge that a payment is not necessary the month following a new mortgage closing, but there is actually a way to skip 2 payments.  If the refinance is closed by the 15th of January, for example, a homeowner can roll their January payment into the loan by just letting the accumulated interest due for December be added to the payoff.  Since the first payment on the new note is due in March, they skip the February payment.  Voila!  2 payments skipped.

Buyers can also use a similar strategy to time their transaction and minimize the amount of cash needed at closing. If a buyer closes on the loan before the 10th day of the month, we can actually pretend (from the pro-rated interest aspect at least) that it closed at the end of the previous month.  The mortgage company actually gives the buyer an interest credit from the 1st to whenever the loan closes.  This is usually allowed for up to 10 days.

This option reduces the amount of cash needed to close the transaction, but it accelerates when that first payment is due.  This will put the note's first payment date as the 1st of the following month, effectively making the first payment due in 20 days or so.  If a buyer is strapped for cash and can make that first payment in a few weeks after another paycheck, closing before the 10th of the month is the cheapest time of the month to close a purchase transaction.

On the flip side....If the buyers have the extra money for the pro-rated interest and the closing is scheduled for the first part of the month, I recommend that they pay the interest to finish out the month.  Then their house payment is put off until the 1st of the month following the next month - 50-60 days away!  Paying a few hundred dollars in interest is a cheap way to put their FULL PITI payment off another month.