Five Things Home Loan Refinance Applicants MUST Know

This will save you a lot of time and disappointment:

1. If your home is currently listed FOR SALE you cannot refinance using a conventional loan. The property will have to be unlisted at the time of the refinance. Some lenders require the property to have been unlisted for 3 to 6 months.
2. If you do not currently have an FHA home loan you cannot do an FHA streamline refinance - that is for FHA to FHA only but there may be other options. Call you local home loan expert.
   
3. FHA streamline refinances are not "free" - there are closing costs. Some of those costs may be minimized through a credit for UFMIP and the title agent/attorney may give a discount if they did the closing on the original loan within a reasonble time period previously.
4. Upgrades CAN be financed into a new loan. It will require an appraisal "as is" and "subject to".
5. Cash out refinancing is still available but not as readily as it was just a few months ago.

Before you start counting on refinancing pick up the phone and call a seasoned real estate finance specialis FROM YOUR AREA. If you live in Georgia and call someone in New York or California you may be shooting yourself in the foot. If you get a mail solicitation from some national lender do youself a big favor and compare with at least TWO local sources of good reputation. Do a Google search and ask around.