Cheap Mortgages Have Sparked a Trend; Should You Join?

Homeowners eager to lock in lower monthly mortgage payments have discovered serial refinancing, a practice last in vogue during the housing boom.

To keep up with falling rates, almost 2.2 million homeowners have refinanced their mortgages at least twice since 2009, according to data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by SMR Research, a mortgage-research firm in Hackettstown, N.J.

From 2006 through 2008, some 3.5 million homeowners refinanced at least twice.

There is little incentive to stop refinancing. Rates are still hovering near record lows, and lenders increasingly are offering to waive some or all of the closing costs for the borrower, making refinancing effectively free--or at least very cheap.

Dean Spalding, a financial-services executive in Louisville, Ky., has refinanced his 15-year mortgage--which now has a balance of roughly $350,000--four times since 2009, including twice in the past 12 months. Over this period, his rate has dropped from 4.25%........continue reading.