I'm 23, so I can kind of relate to what you're going through right now. You're right about refinancing- you could probably get down into the low 3 or 4's at our bank. However, you might be upside down in your mortgage because it's possible your house would appraise for 145-150 and you owe more that. I have seen a definite pattern of people that bought in '07-'08 and are appalled when appraisers come back with estimates. I even sometimes suggest that if your home gets a drive-by appaisel by the bank to SKIP the option of a full appraisel, especially if it's still within 90% of your purchase price. Often times the full appraisel will come back even lower than the "drive-by" and banks will always go with the lowest estimate.
Have you considered refinancing and renting it, while putting it up for short sale? The vibe I'm getting from your post seems to suggest that this home is a time and money sink on your life. Try and recoup some cash flow out of the house, then sell it and move close to your job. Wouldn't you rather max your 401k and cash reserves, while keeping flexible for moving for job opportunity? Save aggressively for a new house, and who cares if rates go back up? You could possibly by a home with cash with a few years of high savings at that salary level.
My house is not a complete sink of my life it has provided me great learning experiences, and deep down I do not feel that having the mortgage was a complete waste of money. I built amazing credit, and If I choose to rent it (even if I rent it @ FMV and the FMV is less than my mortgage ) I will still be making out.
I am currently debating whether or not refinancing is a good thing to do or not. In my current loan agreement there was a clause that stated that I needed to have the house as my primary residence for the first year of the loan. That has already been met, can you get home loans nowadays without that claus?
Also, I would think having a rental property ( even if I have to take out a small loan to pay off the government ) since I have an outstanding 2008 Homeowners Loan on the house and once they find out that I am renting it. I will owe the rest of the money in THAT tax year.
I have listed out three different scenarios in the spreadsheet that I linked in my previous post.
Here is a excerpt:
Living in springfield and commuting to work (starting august)
Monthly cost of house + ults 1728.468
Monthly cost of costs that happen regardless 541
Monthly cost of auto insurance 190
Monthly cost of gas (travelling to framingham err'day) 819.69
Total money going out every month 3,279.15
Total money coming in every month from job 4210.52
How much money I have left each month 931.37
Living in Waltham, owning springfield, not renting, not selling
Monthly cost of house + ults 1478.91
Monthly cost of costs that happen regardless 541
Monthly cost of auto insurance 190
Monthly cost of gas (travelling to framingham err'day) 128.33
Monthly cost of living in waltham 700
Total money going out every month 3,038.24
Total money coming in every month from job 4210.52
How much money I have left each month 1,172.28
living in waltham, renting springfield
Monthly rent getting for springfield 1100
Monthly cost of expenses in springfield(1200/year) 100
Difference between rent + expenses, and mortgage -478.91
Monthly cost of costs that happen regardless 541
Monthly cost of auto insurance 190
Monthly cost of gas (travelling to framingham err'day) 128.33
Monthly cost of living in waltham 900
Total money going out every month 2,480.42
Total money coming in every month from job 4210.52
How much money I have left each month 1,730.10
The formatting is all off cause of the spreadsheet. All of the backup math is in the spreadsheet.