• "Shop around. When you apply for a home loan, the lender or mortgage broker is required by law to give you a good-faith estimate of your settlement costs. Trouble is, there's no penalty for low-balling. Many borrowers say their actual costs have no earthly connection to the good-faith estimate."
  
  
• Look for ways to save on title insurance. Title insurance protects the lender if there's a dispute over ownership of the property. If the house you're buying was owned by the seller for just a few years, ask the seller's title company for a re-issue rate. The premium will likely be lower. You may also qualify for a re-issue rate if you're refinancing.
  
  
• If you're refinancing, go to your existing lender and ask for a streamlined refinancing. These typically require less paperwork, which translates into lower fees. Alternatively, ask your lender if you qualify for loan modification. With these deals, you keep your existing loan and pay your lender a fee in exchange for a reduction in your interest rate.
  
  
• Ask to see the HUD-1. This is the official name of your settlement statement, which lists all your actual closing costs and charges. Borrowers have a right to review a draft of this document one day before closing, but hardly anyone ever asks for it. That's a mistake, because when it's time to close, it's usually too late to challenge inflated costs
  

Labels: HUD, refinance, refinancingmyths, zebra.html

¶ The Horror, The Horror (of re-financing)