Well, I’m back from vacation now and still have the itch to move back. I think I can tough it out here for awhile, so I’ll just keep thinking good thoughts about where I live now and try not to think of all the wonderful activities I miss back home. Thanks to all my lovely guest posters for the posts this week!  You rock!

 Here are some of my favorite posts from the blogosphere this week:

Mrs. Micah presents Two Steps to Protect your Wordpress Blog. She is the guru when it comes to blogs!

Kacie at Sense to Save is moving!  She was trying to weigh out the pros and cons and in the end, the new place won.  I think it’s a good decision solely that she’ll have a washer and dryer.  I think there’s nothing better than that!

The “no spend summer” starts at Living Well on Less.  Karen and her hubby are trying to go a whole summer without spending excess money.  She’s inspired me try cash budgeting again.  It’s worth a shot!

J. Money at Budgets are Sexy celebrates his 500th post!  Congrats, J. Money!

Hope your upcoming week is fantastic!

In January, I wrote about how we’re not refinancing our mortgage. Well, I kinda lied. We’re kicking around the idea right now. The rates just have been enticing and I want a piece of them! There are a few problems, though, and I’d love your input on what you think we should do. Here’s some background information:

We currently have a first mortgage of around $117,000 at 6.375% for 30 years (28 approximately remaining).  Our payment is around $953.00 a month which includes escrow.  We have a second mortgage of around $20,000 with an interest rate of 6.875% for 20 years (18 remaining).  We put 5% down when we purchased the house two years ago.

What we’re thinking of refinancing to is a Home Equity Loan with an interest rate of 5.59% fixed for 30 years.  Doing so would lower our monthly payment down to around $1,000, saving us around $130 a month.  Right now, to me, having that extra cash flow is awesome.  There are a few things I’m concerned about though.

-It would extend 10 years on our second mortgage

-The maximum loan to value for the loan is 85%, and I am afraid that our house is not worth enough to be able to qualify.  This is the biggest fear.

-I would extend the first mortgage by 2 years (no big deal).

Here are some positive things:

+I could possibly be able to stay at home when we have a baby and that is something that is very important to me.

+The closing costs are low, around $400, so if we decided to sell our house I wouldn’t be heartbroken versus spending $2500 in closing costs on refinancing our mortgage with a broker.

+Obviously lower interest rate.

+Increased cash flow to put to other debt.

What’s holding me back from applying is that if we do apply and get declined due to the house value, our credit scores would be affected.

What is your suggestion: keep it how it is, refinance, or something else?