Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Only Remortgage Advice You Need

By Jeremy Stanley

When the interest rates are low, you are going to feel pressure to remortgage your house or other property that you own, and you might ask yourself whether it is the right thing to do. If you do make the decision to remortgage, you can follow these tips of what you should and shouldn't do, which is going to make remortgaging a whole lot easier.

Should: Shop around. The whole the point of a remortgage is to take your existing mortgage with company X and change it into a new mortgage with company Y. It is not a remortgage if you don't change companies. Simply put, to get the best deal you are going to have to shop around. This doesn't mean you can just talk with one mortgage company, it means you need to hit the pavement and talk to as many companies as you can.

Should: Figure out your finances before committing. A lot of times people will remortgage their house thinking that they are going to save a lot of money, only to figure out that in the long run they didn't save much money at all. Think of how much the bank fees and mortgage company fees are going to be first and then see whether or not you are going to get a better deal if you just put that money toward your current mortgage and make an extra payment. You may find that that extra payment will save you almost the same amount of money as remortgaging does in the long run. You have to think about the whole picture and not just about short term money saving.

Shouldn't: You definitely shouldn't do what your neighbor does. Just because your neighbor remortgaged his house, doesn't mean that you should do the same. What's good for one person is not always the best for you, so make sure you do your research and just don't follow someone's advice.

Shouldn't: You shouldn't get swept away with silly promotions. Some banks are going to be less than honest with their advertising, saying that they can offer you a really low interest loan, but then the mortgage papers say the interest rate is much higher. If you can't believe a bank could offer such a good rate, then it is probably just a way to get you in the door.

Shouldn't: Rush things. There is often this big rush to remortgage property, but you are still going to have the option of remortgaging tomorrow, one week from now, one month from now and even one year from now. If you are worried about getting a special deal because the offer runs out tomorrow, you should take a breather. Remortgaging is something that you are going to have to live with for a long time and because it is such a big pain in the butt to do, you don't want to do it and then decide to remortgage again in a couple of years.

Remortgaging your house is going to be a big step, and there are some things that you definitely should and shouldn't do. If you're considering a remortgage, the best advice you can get is to make sure that you do your research and understand what exactly you are doing and how it is going to affect you in the future. It all depends on your specific situation, so make sure you don't forget to do your research.

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