I asked a few questions a few weeks ago on when to refi, and will be doing so ASAP as I plan to call lenders soon.
Sorry for all the questions as this is all new for me, hopefully if I am able to rent my condo out, this will be a start for me.
Here is the situation for me.
In Oct 2003 I bought a brand new condo in Sterling Heights MI purchase price of $158,100. I financed through a 3 year ARM at 4.5%. My monthy payments rights now are $1,080 as I am paying PMI. My dues for the association are $134
I will be getting married in June this year and shorty after will not be living in the condo. Problem in MI right now is NO condos in the Macomb and Oakland counties (north of Detroit) are selling right now. At least for what people want. A lot of people I have talked to and know can not sell their condos. In my my unit (8 condos attached) 6 are for sale. I am sure there are many mor for sale that I do not know about. They are not selling in this area and my friends that have sold their condos sold it for what they paid for it and lived in them for about 3 years. So since selling will not be easy I plan to hopefully rent my unit out. One unit 2 down from me was able to rent their townhouse out for the same price that the builders rent the apartments out for. What the builders did was use half of units and make them condos and the other half are apartments. The apartments are still being built and people are still moving into them. My unit rents out for $1095 for 2 a year leade and $1210 for a one year lease. So i think if I am competive with those prices I will be able to rent it out.
-My insurnce now is about $400 but that would drop a lot if I claimed it as a rental correct?
-I can write off the dues I still pay if it is a rental correct?
So I intend to refinance soon. I owe $143,000 or so from my loan. So basically I have paid off about 10% of the orginal price. I plan to drop another 1k (tax return) into the mortgage before I refi so looking at 142k
If I can rent it out I would like to keep it as a rental for a while.
With all this in mind what should I be looking at? Whatever gives me the lowest mortage payment? Should I get rid of the PMI and do something different? What are my options?
If I do interest only I could pay off principal myself from the difference I get from the renter, and by doing this it would help if there is ever a vacancy?
30 year fixed an option here? Or should I try a 5 year ARM
What can I expect when I refi in total costs? Should I try my original lender first? Do they have to appraise the house?
Let me know if more information is needed I tried to put everything I could think of
On a different note if I have a problem with my garage door opener I should have it fixed when it is a rental so I can write it off?
Thanks,
Dave