Yesterday I talked with some people who had purchased their home from Hometown Realty a number of years ago here in Hutchinson, MN. They have both retired and had received a call about refinancing their home and reducing the number of years left to pay on their mortgage to 15 years (currently they have 25 years left to pay). This was very interesting to them. The mortgage people who contacted them suggested that they could get their interest rate on their mortgage down from 5.75% (current) to 4.65% (proposed). Their payment would increase a couple of hundred dollars per month. I asked how much the closing costs would be to refinance and they thought about %4,000 – $5,000. While visiting with them, I asked if they were comfortable with the higher payment that was being suggested and they said, “yes.” So, I suggested to them that rather than increase the amount of money that they owe ( current principal amount plus new closing costs), that they simply pay the higher payment on their current mortgage. By doing so they would reduce the amount of time left on their mortgage easily to 15 years. They were so glad they called and talked to us about this. So, the moral of the story is “Know All Your Options.”