Refinanced!

Success!  I just closed today on refinancing my mortgage.  I was thinking about locking in a lower interest rate back at Christmas and am kicking myself I didn’t start the paperwork in February when the rates were really good.  But still better late than never.  I still locked in a nice low rate, even though my place isn’t that old.  It took a bit longer than I thought it would - considering it was just refinancing.  I figured the paperwork would be easier.  Not really - still tons.  But apparently it’s about to get worse in the next month with new regulation on mortgages.  Glad I missed that headache.

I’m really excited, because I paid off a bit of my mortgage and with the new lower rate, I’m paying the same amount per month as I was before and just went from having 28 years left on my mortgage to 15.  It’s nice to know I’ll have my place paid off before I hit retirement age.  Granted I don’t move, of course.  It was interesting as I’ve been soliciting more financial advice from folks in high up “paying-off-the-mortgage-early-was-one-of-the-best-things-I-did” came up a lot.

 

Also nice to hear was the appraisal.  The guy who came out shared that my town is really solid - it was one of the few that maintained house value during the real estate hit a few years back.  And the market is doing really well.  It was nice to see that the value went up pretty nicely.  A very different feel than what I had back with my place in Michigan - where I bought high and sold low. 

I had to pick up a bank check yesterday in preparation.  I thought I’d be one of the first into the bank when it opened at 9 am, but a bunch of people were ahead of me.  And they all had something in common.  They were older (i.e. retired/senior).  It was the thing to do I guess.  One woman just came in to ask about her balance on her account.  But the other three people were getting money and all asked for big bills - $100 bills.  Very strange since I was just talking with Nick last month about how $100 bills apparently are used more internationally than nationally.  Which seems right since I hardly ever come across a $100 or see someone use one.  And US currency is used for transactions where paper money is needed, especially in developing countries.  So strange to suddenly see a bunch of people asking for the big bills.  I started envisioning some underworld organization thing that the senior folks were working in.  Not money laundering but something like that.

Needless to say, I was happy to pass the check on today.  I don’t like having that much money on me that could possible go missing.  My checking account feels awfully barren right now.  I keep reminding myself it will be in good shape soon.