The Historic District

Has anyone been successful with re-financing their house lately? We're considering it; however, have heard horror stories about appraisals and denials based on the never-ending projects associated with owning an old house. Current Zillow estimate on the house is $446k, which I think is a tad high. I'm thinking about $400k is more realistic. Regardless, we owe less than $250k on our existing mortgage. A comparable house to ours just sold for $459k across the street. It needs just as much work as ours, though it was given the "lipstick on a pig" treatment before it was sold.

Do we have anything to worry about with an appraisal?

I recently refinanced and I think it depends on the company and people you're working with. Mine was completed in about three weeks without inspection. My brother also refinanced, didn't really get a good deal from one large national bank that rhymes with "Mel's Cargo", but another lender found something that worked. I'd recommend Prime Lending.

I took on a second mortgage to stay afloat but Im in Canada. they didnt require an appraisal as I guess I had enough invested already so they didn't take a chance. even if it burned to the ground the land is still worth a million or so. the house is only about 60K or some ridiculously small amount, on paper. Ive put a lot of work into it on the inside it intentionally does not look all fixed up from the street. I dont want he tax assessors to take note of the work I've done or they just want more money. if I get close to selling I'll paint it up nice. the problem with borrowing money is paying it back here, Im able to defer the tax to the point where I die or sell so that gave me some wiggle room for now.

We refinanced this past spring. It was quite easy and there was no inspection. I think it was a good idea, went from 4.375% to 2.9% if I recall correctly. I can’t see rates getting any lower than that, ever. Saved us about $300 a month. I was thrilled to refinance with a bank that is not Wells Fargo, because it seems every year we were with WF, we’d receive a letter stating our escrow estimate has been wildly under estimated, and that our escrow account is $2-3k short. Considering it’s a fixed APR, and our HO insurance and taxes only increase very slightly every year, I could never understand why. But about a month after refinancing, the mortgage was sold back to Wells Fargo! Fantastic. Good luck.

I'm going through a federal credit union. Rate is going from 5.2% to 2.7%. All of the paperwork went through without issue. We still have an "appraisal" that has to be done. The guy said he should only be here about 30 minutes, so I'm hopeful it won't be anything too in depth. It will happen in about another week or so - they're supposed to call me with a date one day this week.