Hi - closed on a VA loan on 12/2/08 at approx $428K at 6%.  Our lender is telling us we may be looking at a 5.5% IRRL next week with little to no closing.

I plan on paying no closing other than the .5% IRRL funding fee. . .

I've been unsuccessful in finding anywhere on the web where I can see what the daily VA JUMBO rate is, so I can keep tabs on what our lender is quoting us (double checking for our own peace of mind).   Can someone tell me where I can find this info - I know rates can change several times a day, but I'm trying to find a jumbo VA rate anywhere!!

Also, I'm not sure it's work to refi for only a .5% reduction - what are any professionals thoughts on this??  Do you think jumbos could go down even closer to conforming rates with the Big O coming into office??

Thanks for any advice!

If you live in a jumbo conforming market (meaning you can also get jumbo conventional loans through fannie mae and freddie mac) then getting the current rates shouldn't be to tough, just post again and let us know.  If you don't live in an area (we can check if you send your zip code and city) that allows higher limits you might have a tough time getting your loan done at the bottom end of the interest rate drops.

Give a litte more info on where you are and we can let you know what you might expect for an interest rate.  Also just confirming any fee's you're paying so we know how to respond.

As far as the drop, if you have next to know cost to refinance then any decrease in interest rate makes sense.  If you could refinance and save $20 a month and add nothing to your current balance I would do it. It's free money.  If you are adding to your balance or paying out of pocket take a look at the other post about "break even point".

Hey C R

Most "rate" information on the web is very stale.  Meaning that the rate has already changed by the time the lender has posted their rate.  There is no reliable source to determine whether your lender is charging more than a competing lender.  A better way to at least see what direction they are going is to Google GNMA II since that is the delivery pool your loan would be placed.  If that is too specific, you could try GNMA MBS to get an idea of which way they are trading.

I am not sure how you will be paying no costs other than the .5% VAFF since there would be at least a mortgage satisfaction and re-recording fee at the court house.  There would also be a re-issue of title insurance and two months of escrow to make up for the gap in payments with your current lender.  This is all assuming your lender is charging you no fees and I am pretty sure they would still need a new appraisal to make sure the property didn't lose any value.

The general rule of thumb for refinance is to get at least 1% rate relief, but this really depends on what your time frame is.  If you are staying in the home for the rest of your life, then 0.5% would be worth it.  If ten years is more likely, then I would hold off until you hit 1% lower.  If you are selling in two years you shouldn't even be thinking of refinancing.

I always thought the big "O" was Oprah, so I am guessing you are referring to the new executive administration.  Jumbo loans fall under the category of private label MBS and that is an illiquid market at the moment.  If one could predict what will happen there, they would be very rich in the next six months.  I am affraid you will have to stay tuned with the rest of us on that one!

Actually if any of us knew what rates were going to do over the next 6 months we wouldn't get rich because we don't have enough money to really do anything of value.  But we would tell everyone how smart we were!

Thanks to everyone that replied.

We live in Laurel, MD 20707 if that helps with the jumbo conforming market.

Our lender said we could close with little to no fees.  When "no fees," is mentioned, I presume that that is a valid option and of course would prefer to take that route.  we know from prior VA experience that there is the .5% refi fee for a IRRL.  We have the funds to pay that out of pocket, whether we actually do or not, I'm no so sure - we may just tack it onto the balance.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that with ANY VA loan, if you do a IRRL refi you have to pay at a mininum the .5% (whether at closing or tacked on).

That being said, in that scenario, we are paying to refi - whether up front or over several yrs to reach the break even pt depending on the rate.

I have always personally felt that 1% is a minimum rate drop to make it worthwhile but hey - tell me if I'm missing something here that I just don't know about.

Again, we have a VA loan at approx $428K. And the rate is a 30 yr. fixed at 6%

The 1% "rule" is a generalization.  On larger loan amounts, the benefit can be found with less of a drop because many of the costs are not dependant on the loan size.

Being that we are in the lowest rates in 30-40 years, I think this is the time to pay to get the lowest rate you can where the buydown pays for itself in 3-5 years (assuming you plan on being in the property at least that long).  This would give you over 20 years of monthly savings after the closing costs have paid for themselves by taking the lower rate. 

You really do have to run the numbers and look at the break even point. Like Kent mentioned the amount of time you're going to stay in the property is key if you're looking at the big picture financially.  I wouldn't corner yourself into needing 1%. If your lender could pay all your fee's (even the VA funding fee) then even a 1/4-1/2 would make sense. If you're thinking you should walk away at 5% because there are some settlement costs, ask about 5.50% with no costs.

You'll be surprised at what you can get if you're willing to bring your skipped payment to closing (you typically always skip a months payments because of the prorated interest added to your settlment costs) and maybe your escrow refund (most lenders send you a check later) then with some participation from your lender to pay costs you should be able to get your loan balances close to the same without any new out of pocket expenses (you would have made a payment anyway and you get a check for your escrows). At that point, you're just saving money.

There is some time invested of course to refinance but look at it as free money every month for as long as you live in your home. When you're done I would bet it's time well spent.