Mortgage Guides
Eight questions that decide what a mortgage actually costs you, answered in the order a reader asks them. Each guide opens with the answer, explains why it holds, and hands off to the calculator that prices the decision on your own figures.
- Does refinancing reset your mortgage?A new 30-year term restarts the interest-heavy years you already paid through.
- Recast vs extra paymentsBoth send a lump sum to principal. Only one lowers the payment you are required to make.
- Refinancing when your rate is already lowWhy a below-market rate is an asset, and the two cases where giving it up still makes sense.
- What refinance break-even really meansThe usual formula ignores the balance you stop paying down. That is where it goes wrong.
- Are no-closing-cost refinances real?The costs are real. The question is whether you pay them in cash, in the balance, or in the rate.
- PITI vs principal and interestWhy the payment that leaves your account is larger than the one you were quoted.
- Are discount points worth it?Points are prepaid interest. Whether they pay back depends on how long you keep the loan.
- When can I stop paying PMI?Two different thresholds, two different rules, and one of them you have to ask for.