Refinancing my mortgage!

I have started the process of refinancing my mortgage. It is a lot of paperwork and coordination but will produce some good results for me. I am dropping my interest rate by 1%, dropping mortgage insurance, paying off all of my remodel expenses, and simplifying my financial life all at once.

As an added bonus I am not required to escrow my property tax and insurance. I will set up a savings account and escrow it myself so I can earn the interest instead of a bank. I will also get some of the escrow "required surplus" money back that I can use as I wish. It will be added to the emergency fund.

This time I am using a local credit union for the mortgage. They were the best deal I could find and I like the idea of keeping it local. I also have some savings with them so I like the idea of moving to them for the mortgage. They are very easy to work with and treat me more like a person and less like an account number.

I have come a long way remodeling my foreclosure purchase. I am 98% done with the house now and the only remaining variable is the appraisal. Once that is done I can lock my rate and continue onto closing the new loan and consolidating. It will be a great feeling to have this done and over with!