Second Guest Post!

Head over to Baking the Budget to read more about my real estate adventures in my second ever guest post.
http://bakingbudget.blogspot.com/
Baking the Budget is a wonderful blog that I have learned a lot from. It is not geared towards students but still is a valuable resource.

Refinancing

Our credit union just lowered their APR for mortgages to 4.261% and our current APR is 4.75%. I would love to refinance and lower our payments by $20/month but the closing costs are huge. They expect $1,450 for the origination charge and even though I know we paid that to close it bugs me when many companies are giving out lender comps. The other thing that bothers me, is the title search, they want $1,185 for a service they did less than two years ago. I have heard that some companies will do a mini-search and charge less if they have previously done the search. I am going to ask about that. I understand the appraisal fee and the taxes, though, even if they cost about $1000. My credit union has no control over those so I am not going to bother complaining about it.

At this point, as much as I would like to refinance the closing costs are too high even with the great rate.
If anyone has a bank they know with a rate close to this one, with better closing costs let me know in the comments.

Frustrations in Real Estate

Our tenant gave us a little over a month's notice that they would be moving out when their lease expired. I thought that was nice, and even though I did not like having to find new tenants and lose rent for a month or more, everything was ok. I posted on craigslist with a $50 increase in rent and got some immediate responses, one that looked very good. My husband went up to see about showing the apartment on saturday and we were informed that they were not planning to move till October, they still have not put the bid in on their new house.

I understand finding a place, buying it and moving in can take awhile but I am very annoyed that she did not let us know. The more into winter we are, the harder it will be for us to find good tenants. I feel like telling them that since they are going month-to-month the rent will be raised. I probably would not have done so, however, if she had talked to me. Am I wrong in doing so?

My First Guest Post

My first guest post is now up at Grad Money Matters.
http://gradmoneymatters.com/inspiring-stories/student-landlord-ginger.html
This article is about how my DH and I were able to get started in our landlording business. Any additional questions can be asked either here or there, I'll be checking both sites.