Make the refinance earn its cost.

Loan and transaction costs are the ones a monthly benefit has to recover. Prepaids and escrow funding are your own future taxes and insurance paid ahead — they change the cash you bring to closing, but they are not lender charges and they do not belong in the break-even division.

• Lender and origination charges
• Discount points, or lender credits applied against costs
• Appraisal, or an eligible appraisal alternative
• Credit and verification charges
• Title and settlement work — a lender's policy is generally required; an owner's policy is optional and may qualify for a reissue credit
• Recording fees
• Florida documentary-stamp and intangible-tax treatment on the mortgage, verified for the transaction

Collected separately, and not part of the break-even cost bucket: prepaid interest to your first payment, and initial escrow deposits for taxes and insurance. Your existing escrow balance is generally refunded after the old loan is paid off. Homeowners, flood and wind-insurance requirements, and condo or project review where applicable, can also affect the transaction. We do not give definitive tax or title figures without verified transaction details.

A concise overview rather than a guideline encyclopedia. Pricing and eligibility vary by credit, loan-to-value, occupancy, units, loan amount and other factors, and lender overlays can be more restrictive than agency rules.

• Conventional — rate-and-term (limited cash-out) or cash-out, potential mortgage-insurance removal with enough equity, and custom 10-to-30-year amortization. As a planning baseline, agency guidance allows up to 97% LTV for an eligible one-unit limited cash-out and up to 80% for a one-unit cash-out, with restrictions; verified for your file.
• FHA — FHA rate-and-term and Simple Refinance, FHA cash-out, and FHA Streamline for an existing FHA-insured loan. A Streamline means reduced documentation, not no cost, and net-tangible-benefit and other FHA eligibility rules still apply.
• VA — VA regular and cash-out refinance, and the VA IRRRL (Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, sometimes called a VA Streamline), which requires an existing VA loan. Net-tangible-benefit, seasoning, recoupment, occupancy and certification, and funding-fee rules may apply.

VA rules can allow a higher loan-to-value on an eligible VA cash-out refinance than most conventional programs, but the exact ceiling depends on current VA guidance and the individual lender's overlays, which are frequently more restrictive. Treat any specific limit as something to verify for your file, not a guarantee.

The shortest term on the rate sheet is not automatically the right one — the right term is the shortest one you can comfortably sustain. On eligible conventional refinances you can choose an amortization anywhere from 10 to 30 years in one-year increments, so you can match or beat your current payoff date without restarting at 30 years and without forcing a 15-year payment that squeezes your budget.

A custom term is priced off the applicable standard-term bucket: a 22-year uses 30-year pricing with 22-year amortization, an 18-year uses 20-year pricing, a 12-year uses 15-year pricing. It does not receive its own unique market rate. Eligibility and available pricing are verified for your file, and not every term is available on every program.

Refinancing an eligible FHA loan into a conventional loan can remove FHA mortgage insurance premiums once you have enough equity, which can improve the payment even when the rate change alone is modest. Eligibility depends on loan-to-value, credit and the property. Compare the full cost and break-even, not the insurance line on its own.

If you owe a large balance at a low rate and need extra cash, repricing the whole balance can cost more than keeping it. The comparison that decides it is the combined payment and long-term cost over the time you plan to keep the home — not any single rate. A blended rate is a screening number only: terms and amortization schedules differ, so the real comparison is the actual combined payment and what you pay over the horizon you care about.

• Existing first plus a home-equity line — preserves your first-mortgage rate; the line's rate is typically variable, so the payment can rise. Fits staged or uncertain borrowing.
• Existing first plus a fixed second — preserves your first-mortgage rate with a predictable second payment on its own term. Fits a defined lump-sum need.
• One new cash-out refinance — one rate on the entire balance, one payment, and the term resets. Fits when your current rate is not much below today's, or when one simple loan is worth more to you than the rate difference.

Mortgage Expert does not currently offer HELOCs or home-equity loans. When protecting a low first-mortgage rate matters more than replacing the entire mortgage, we may recommend exploring one with another provider.

The same three pricing options we use on our rates page apply to a refinance. Points mean paying more upfront for a lower rate. Balanced pricing sits closest to par, with little or no points and little or no credit. Lender credits reduce your upfront loan costs in exchange for a higher rate.

"No-closing-cost" is shorthand for the lender-credit option. It does not mean there is no economic cost — you pay it over time in the rate. Which loan fits depends mostly on how long you expect to keep the loan, which is why the calculator above asks for that number.

• The break-even runs longer than the time you realistically expect to keep the home.
• Your existing first-mortgage rate is too valuable to replace.
• Closing costs consume the projected benefit.
• The new term lowers the payment mainly by extending the debt.
• Cash-out creates payment stress or strips too much equity.
• Credit, property value or your current loan terms makes pricing unfavorable.
• A home-equity line or fixed second better preserves the first mortgage.
• You are likely to sell or refinance again before recovering the costs.
• Debt consolidation would not solve a recurring spending pattern.

A refinance is not racing a purchase-contract closing date, so there is room to watch a target — while being honest that no one can consistently predict the market. Your closing date affects prepaid interest, your payoff figure, funding, rescission timing, and when the first payment on the new loan is due.

Some refinances create a gap before that first payment. That is payment timing, not a skipped or free payment: interest, your payoff figure and loan costs still apply. Keep following your current servicer's payment instructions until the old loan is confirmed paid off.

This page focuses on primary residences, but second homes and investment properties can be refinanced too, with different pricing, loan-to-value limits and reserve requirements. The method does not change: compare cost, payment, break-even and the alternatives for your specific property and goal.

• Understand the goal — payment, payoff speed, equity or debt.
• Review the current mortgage, rate and remaining term.
• Measure available equity and the cash you actually need.
• Compare conventional, FHA and VA paths as eligible.
• Compare points, balanced pricing and lender credits against your expected holding period.
• Compare a full refinance against keeping the first mortgage in place.
• Show the short-term cash-flow effect and the long-term interest and payoff effect.
• Recommend refinancing now, waiting, keeping the current mortgage, or exploring a product we do not offer.