Refinancing the House

Due to anticipated changes at work, the need to reduce cash flow, and interest rates that are even lower than they were two years ago, I've refinanced the house. My rate ended up at 3.875% for a 30 year fixed. I brought more than $50k in cash to closing to drive my monthly payment down.

I thought the process would be relatively pain free because, compared to two years ago when I purchased the house:

• my annual income is ~$50k greater;
• my student loans have been paid in full and I have no debts other than my mortgage;
• my retirement and other personal savings have increased substantially; and
• the house has appreciated (according to the official appraisal).

Alas, no. Credit underwriting was smooth and fast. The difficulty revolved around the condo underwriting. Technically, my house is part of a two-unit homeowners' association. We needed to amend our HOA declarations, which involved signing, notarizing and recording the amendment, which I drafted myself. This was extremely frustrating because my reading of the bylaws together with the declarations was that the amendment was not necessary, but I couldn't get anyone in underwriting to actually read and think about the language in the existing documents.

Just over three months later, we're done and funded.

(This process made me think a lot about what it's like to be a client in the corporate transactions we facilitate at work--valuable experience from that point of view.)