I closed a friend's mortgage with a 5/1 arm today at 2.625%. I asked if I could share his financial history over the last three years as it pertained to his mortgage to give people an example of how you can accelerate the reduction of loan balance.

In 2008 his mortgage balance was at $440,000 and he had a fixed rate of 6.25%. He wanted to refinance into another fixed mortgage, but at that time the interest rates for a jumbo fixed loan were in the Mid 5's and it did not make much sense.

He was dead set against an Arm loan, but I convinced him to take a 5/1 arm at the time with an interest rate at 3.875%. He continued to make the same payment he was making applying his $750 per month savings with the arm loan to the principle. As he watched the balance decline, he began sending additional funds to the loan balance.

Today his new loan amount was $375,000. He had paid down his loan by $65,000 since his refinance in January of 2009 to the arm loan. Today we closed his new loan at 2.625%, and his payment went down by another $507.

His plan is to continue to make the same payment from the original fixed loan that he had in December of 2008 and apply his additional monthly savings to the loan balance.

We reviewed an amortization schedule and determined that he would save an additional $117,000 in interest over the life of the loan if he continued prepaying the loan balance.

The moral of the story. If my friend did nothing in December of 2008, he would be stuck in the same loan and would have a current principle balance of approximately $423,000. He would not have had an option to do anything today since market values have declined, and there wouldn't have been enough equity in his home to allow him to refinance today.

He was so excited at the closing, and was actually calling people between signing documents to tell them that he was getting a rate of 2.625%.

These rates are not going to be around forever. If you want to discuss how the program works and how it might work for you, give Rob a call at the number above.