1. Suppose that, 10 years ago, you bought a home for $250,000. You paid 10% as a down payment and financed the rest with a 30-year mortgage at 8% interest. How much did you pay for your down payment? 2. How much money was your existing mortgage for when you first took out the loan? 3. What is your current monthly mortgage payment? 4. How much total interest will you pay over the life of your current mortgage? 5. This year (10 years after initially taking out the mortgage), you look at your loan balance and see that you still have $197,380 left to pay on the loan. How much of the original loan have you paid off? 6. How much interest have you paid on the mortgage in the last 10 years? (Hint: The interest paid will be your total amount paid in 10 years minus the amount you've paid off.) 7. If your house is now valued at $300,000, how much equity do you have in your home? (Equity is home value minus remaining debt.) 8. Since interest rates dropped, you consider refinancing your remaining mortgage balance at 6% interest. If you take out a new 30 year mortgage at this lower rate, what would your monthly payments be? 9. How much interest would you pay over the duration of this new loan? 10. How much would you save each month by refinancing? Keep in mind that while you're saving each month, you'll be making 10 more years' worth of payments than you would otherwise. 11. Does it make sense to refinance your mortgage? (There is no wrong answer here - just justify your answer.)