Finally!

For the first time in a loooong time, it seems things are finally starting to go our way with this house. You might remember reading about our refi frustrations back in August. It seems somebody out there finally figured out responsible homeowners might also need assistance. We looked into the refi option again back in October and found out a new program had been rolled out to help folks in a situation like ours. The best part was that it wasn't going to cost us a ridiculous amount of money to get done either!

We wound up going through our original lender (which saved some potential stress of negotiating the HELOC) and got a 30 year fixed loan at a lower rate than what we are paying today. The whole reason for the refinance is to get out of our 5/1 ARM which expires at the end of next year. Since it doesn't look likely that we will be able to sell this coming spring without totally screwing ourselves, this will add an extra measure of security whether we're renting the place out or worse case, still stuck living here.

Another good thing that came out of the process was getting an appraisal of our home. While it has lost quite a bit of value compared to what it could have sold for 2 years ago, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. We weren't even completely under water - close, but still treading water. :P And this will give us a benchmark for when we do actually put it on the market.

After a long 2.5 month wait, we finally closed this week! And the best part was that our cost was cut in half!! For whatever reason, the points dropped further, so we were able to pay all the closing costs out of pocket -woo hoo!!!!

So our plan is to try and move back next spring/summer. We'll be putting the house on the market for both rent and sale. I hope and pray either the rental market isn't so saturated or that home values will start to come back up and we could actually sell the place. Keep your fingers crossed!!