Incarmelvalley, it’s harder to give advice since you are undecided what you are going to do. If you are planning a move out of socal, make sure you won’t want to or need to sell before you refi. Being a landlord more than a drive away has a lot of drawbacks and you need to make sure your income and new housing costs won’t require you to sell before you get into the mathematical benefits of a refi. Sdowner’s situation doesn’t have any variables other than a purely mathematical one. My best advice is to not ask the advice of a mortgage broker unless you already know and trust them (then it’s a maybe).
I’m with sd on this one, I have as many reasons to believe rates will go up as I do they will stay low. Trying to guess future rates can and will make your head explode. If you can afford the 30 fixed, and you will be there a while it may be worth the cost for the ten extra minutes of sleep each night and the 10pts off your blood pressure knowing you can and will ride out whatever craziness happens in the next 24 months.
