My coworker, who bought in August, is refinancing from a 30yr fixed to a 20yr fixed, and keeping the same payment. Needless to say, my curiosity is piqued. Anyone want to share their experience with that? How do they appraise a house after 4 years — I know the market has tanked, but in my neighborhood, a comparable house is selling at about 150k, and we paid 120 4 years ago. Do they just go by tax records? Or something else?
I'm going to talk to the guy tomorrow, one guy, anyway, and I have a call in to another guy, just to see what's up. We don't really want to lower our payment, but it would be sweet to lower our terms to a 15yr mortgage.
It’s my impression that they don’t go by tax records at all, but a combination of comparable houses and an assessment of your own house (which a friend had done *without her knowledge* — ie, the bank guy just drove by and took a look at the house from the outside, taking their word for everything else).