There has been a lot of talk about mortgage refinancing over the last couple of years. One thing that you need to bear squarely in mind when considering doing this is that you must be prepared to pay your costs at closing. This is very similar to what happened when you initially purchased your home. Despite all of the advertising when it comes down to the nitty-gritty you will find that there's very little difference between what you have to pay in a refinancing situation and what you had to pay when you took out your original mortgage.

It's important to remember that there are a number of fees charged by the mortgage provider for different jobs during the application process and before a loan approval. These will include payments for certificates, necessary reports and various other paperwork attached to the loan process. It is virtually impossible to avoid paying these expense so it's very important to factor them into your calculations.

Something that you also may not be aware that the is that a new appraisal of the property will be necessary. Any money owing for this service will usually be paid at the point of settlement. There will also be title and escrow fees attached to the deal. This is not necessarily a definitive list of all the costs that may be involved but is just to give you an outline of what possible charges you may encounter. Lot of the advertising attached to refinance mortgages will give the impression that all of this type of work that you did when you originally bought your home and took at your original mortgage will still be applicable and not necessary to repeat. For the most part, that is simply not the case and a lot of this work will have to be done again .

Chances are, mortgage products and the terms and conditions attached to them have changed significantly since you originally took out your mortgage loan so there are possibly significant savings that can be made in this area if you shop around and you compare all of the terms and conditions from the different lenders very carefully. At the same time, it's also very important to be aware that a lot of these fees that you may have thought that you had paid once at your original mortgage will come to you again with your refinancing deal. You must factor these financial elements into the equation so as to make sure as to not leave yourself with financial difficulties in the short term.

Just one other item, your old friend property taxes will rear its ugly head again here in this situation so it's important to also factor that into the equation.

All in all, refinancing your existing mortgage can be a very smart financial move and you may very well get a better set of terms and conditions than you originally had when you took out your mortgage. But like anything, it also comes with potential pitfalls. It is very important that you look at all of the terms and conditions attached to any particular deal from a given mortgage provider and that you also factor in the type of cost that we've dealt with in this article.

Tom writes for Mortgage Advice And Calculators. A site that provides Mortgage Planning and calculators for all you mortgage needs.