My mortgage refinance, three months in the making, is finally a done deal.  Nearly 35 autographs, 18 pages initialed by both my wife and I, 3 lbs of paper, and a half hour out of our work day later and the 4.625% rate is a reality.

This cuts our monthly principle and interest by $250 per month, or about $3,000 annually.

Banking, Real Estate mortgage, mortgage rates, refinance

The latest in the long saga of the refinance effort for our primary residence; the 4th loan handler called today to notify us that we’ve been approved for closing.  There is one very slight hitch in the works though, although I’m not real worried.  The message stated that the rate of 4.625% was approved for a loan amount of $152,400 bringing monthly payments to $1,080.

That sounds great, except for the monthly payment part.

By my calculation, the monthly payment should equate to just shy of $800 per month for principle and interest. A far cry from $1,080.

The representative did say, however, that those numbers were just preliminary .  I don’t know why she couldn’t give me the real, no kiddin’ numbers, they’ve only been working on this for 3 months!.

The final numbers should come via a phone call in 7 business days along with a request to schedule closing…

Finance, Real Estate mortgage, refinance

I called my banker yesterday after I started thinking about how I was going to finance another rental property. When I call this guy my banker, he IS the bank, as in, he OWNS the bank. A good guy to know, indeed!

One of the benefits to doing business with a small town bank is that you know the bank and they know you. There is no pre-approval as long as your logic is sound and the margin is wide. If you have the cash flow to support the investment, they’ll lend you the money.

So the conversation with the banker (Bruce) went like this:

Me: Hey Bruce, I’m looking at acquiring some more rental property, would you be interested in writing the loan?

Bruce: Absolutely, what are you looking at?

Me: Well, there is a property two blocks North of the one I already own that’s owned by a bank, and they are desperate to get out. It’s come down thirty grand in the last three months.

Bruce: How much money do you need?

Me: They are asking $59,900 but I think I can do better than that.

Bruce: Sounds good. Just write the check or whatever you need to do, give me a call and I’ll make sure the money is there to cover the deal.

Man do I love doing business with a small-town bank. You’d never have a conversation like that with Bank of America!

Banking, Investing, Real Estate, Rental Property Finance, loans, mortgage, Real Estate