Refinance Update

The refinance of our mortgage is moving ahead, with a closing date of July 30th. Last week we had the bank appraisal, which came back on Thursday at $350,000 - Just enough to cover the mortgage while leaving 20% equity, but leaving us to come up with about $4,500 in closing costs and prepaid expenses. Fortunately our financial planner has informed us that we can take the money from one of our Roth IRAs with no penalties or tax consequences, and the money will be direct deposited into our bank account this week. With those hurdles out of the way and the laundry list of supporting documentation -- paystubs, W2s, tax returns, employment verification, certificates of insurance etc etc -- express mailed to our loan officer yesterday, I am starting to breathe a sigh of relief! The refinance -- from a 30 yr fixed to a 7/1 ARM -- cuts our interest rate in half and reduces our monthly mortgage payment by about $650, yippee!!