If you do refinance.. go for a 15 year mortgage. The cost won't be much higher than $1074 and you have the benefit of a shorter term.

Usually when someone refinances a 30 year mortgage for another 30 year mortgage.. they end up paying MUCH more in interest then they would have if they'd have kept their original mortgage going, EVEN IF the rate goes down.

If you can take $70k off your house loan I would definitely do it, and after the refinance is done... I would STILL pay $1762 on the house each month.. sending in the extra principle payments will KILL the interest on your new mortgage.

If things go well and your employment stays steady.. you'll be owning your home in less than 10 years. However.. if you think that layoffs are coming.. or you feel that your job is less than secure.. then cut down to the minimum payment required and put the rest into your savings.

30k is an excellent amount for an emergency fund and it should sustain you while you look for another job should the worst things happen to you.

The best way to protect yourself from job loss, however.. is to pay your house off as soon as possible. That way.. should you lose you job.. you're wife's income should sustain you and even a minimum wage job for you could work.

Once you own your home.. NO ONE can take it from you.

Hope this helps...

PMMM,

David makes an excellent suggestion; however, what's going to allow you to be able to sleep at night?

By the tone of your post, it sounds like it's worrying you. If so, I'd suggest selling the home and renting until you feel more comfortable with owning again and either get a more stable job or start to feel more secure about your current.

Just giving you more options. Good luck.

Good advice from all. Thanks a lot. I have given a little thought to selling the house.

If the market were a little better I would give it more thought. However the market is so soft right now that even if could sell the house I think it would fetch much less than I am willing to let it go for.

I am still negotiating with several different lenders and I may be able to get a slightly lower interest rate. I really don't intend to stay here for ever. I would probably sell the house anyway and buy something smaller. It's just my wife and I now, in a tri-level home, and it's a bit big for us but were not quite ready to downsize just yet.

I'm thinking of just getting the best rate I can and refi at that and keep the cash. One of my old bosses told me that no matter what cash is king. So I really hate to dump my rainy day fund into a house that I will probably will sell anyway. (I should have disclosed that fact upfront.)

But it's good to talk it through and get some additional advice. Thanks a lot folks. I'll ponder some more and see what the lenders come back with.

Thanks again.

PMMM

Finance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance, personal finance, and public finance. Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money, and risk and how they are interrelated. It also deals with how money is spent and budgeted.

the advice I wish I had received while working a job that covered all the bills, "Invest your free time in starting a home business to eventually take over as the primary source of income."
with talk of raising the retirement age to 70 (means social security won't be available much longer) and inflation growing faster than salaries increase my advice to my children and anyone else who will listen is to start your own business