Is refinancing at these mortgage rates worth it?

[djadziadax]

Hi, I have been wondering about your collective thoughts are on refinancing to get a lower rate on our primary residence. We currently have 200K left, at 3.75%, would you refinancing into another 30 yr. at 2.99% - that may knock off about $250 off the monthly payment.

My thinking is that we want to keep the property for at least another 10yrs, and maybe forever as we may retire into this property (that is no clear yet). Also thinking about what others have said that it is not a bad idea even in FIRE to have a mortgage as having predictable housing expenses build into the budget is not a bad thing.

How do I approach this decision?

Thank you Mustachians.

[damnedbee]

Crunch the numbers and find out. You can plug your numbers in to several sites to get preliminary offers, and I liked this comparison calculator to determine if it's worth it.

https://smartasset.com/refinance/refinance-calculator

I have a 30-year 3.75% fixed with $145K remaining and looked at a few refi offers below 3%. However, even with excellent credit, the closing costs were unexpectedly high, and I'd have to stay in the house 4+ years just to break even (which I don't want to do).

[Sibley]

Your decision isn't based solely on monthly payment. It's also based on interest avoided. If you're going to save 20, 30, 40k in interest over the term, that's significant. To find out, you'd need to crunch the numbers.

[wageslave23]

Find out what the $0 out of pocket interest rate is and compare that to your current rate.  That way even if you only stay one more year, you end up ahead.  I believe that rate will be close to 3.5%