So we recently purchased a house and owned two houses for three weeks until the other one sold. I don't think we got an amazing interest rate because of being highly leveraged but interest rates have also dropped a lot since we bought several months ago. So I am looking into refinancing.
Current loan is a 30 year at 4.5% with a monthly P&I payment of $2,280.08/month, if we pay on schedule it will cost us $370,830 in interest.
Looking at either a 30 year with a lower rate/payment or a 20 year with a lower rate/higher payment.
Option 1: 30 year @ 3.625%, $2043/month ($237/m savings) & $287,520 total interest ($83,310 savings)
Option 2: 20 year @ 3.5%, $2598/month ($318/m more) & $175,573 total interest ($195,257 savings)
We hope to stay in this house for at least 20 years... so the 20 year is very tempting to me for the overall interest savings even though the rate isn't that much better than the 30 year. I looked at making equivalent extra payments to the new 30 year ($555/m) and it would pay off at 21 yrs, 3 months with $199,741.26 total interest ($171,088.74 savings) so not quite as good as the 20 year but obviously more flexible. I just don't know if I would actually send the extra money to the mortgage and not invest it or spend it instead... and the 30 year amortization just kills me when I see how little principal you pay for the first like ten years. Help me think through the perspectives on this, logic, math, feelings, etc and give me your opinion! Thanks!
ETA: We already max two 401Ks, two Roth IRAs, and a family HSA so further investing would most likely only be taxable