We're in the process of refinancing the mortgage. We'd originally gotten an ARM so that we had as much money as possible to put into the house as possible (the house really needed it as our readers already know). We've put additional money into paying the principal as well, but the flexibility has been really nice. Well, the ARM resets in November and while it wouldn't affect our payments in the short term (in fact, they'd probably go down), the interest rate would likely go up and that would hurt us in the end.
Part of the refi process means getting a new appraisal. The appraiser came on Monday. We were kind of nervous. They did a walk-through of the house, took some pictures and were generally quite nice. We were a little embarrassed since we hadn't really had time to clean up.
We'd gotten a King county property tax assessment recently that had valued our house at about $25K below what we'd paid. We weren't too surprised since the real estate market sucks for everyone. Well, we got our copy of the new appraisal today and it came in about $35K over what we paid. Yay! This is great for our egos and hopefully our pocketbook. The higher appraisal means that we qualify for a lower interest rate. We're really happy! Now we just have to get all the other I's dotted and T's crossed.
