Hey - quick question about home refinancing.

[Writer]

We're looking to refinance our ARM come early fall. We don't want to remove any equity from the house, but will we have to get a new appraisal? Our last appraisal was in '04.

[AllegroRondo]

1. not necessarily

you only need an appraisal if you think the value of your home has appreciated enough to change something in your mortgage.
For example, you may get a better rate if you're borrowing less than 80% of the current value of your home. In that case, you would want an appraisal to show what the current value is.

on edit:
most lenders will require an appraisal of some type. this could be as simple as an "internet appraisal", where they do a quick search for similar homes that have sold in your area in the last 6 months. you can pay to have a "drive by" appraisal or a more therough appraisal if you think the first one was too low.

[taterguy]

2. Depends on the Lender

It's usually their decision