With recession biting hard, taking away job opportunities and reducing income, many people chose to take a home mortgage loan to refinance their mortgage.  With interest rates that were a record low, refinancing was the route many chose to take. More than half of all applications for a home mortgage loan from mid 2009 to the early part of 2011 were for refinancing.  The consideration most people make when taking a home loan is the interest rate. There are other considerations to be made though when going through the steps to refinance a mortgage, like big bank vs community lender.

The big news this week is that the face of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg refinanced his mortgage. Not only did he refinance (The guy needs a mortgage? Really?) but he got possibly the best mortgage interest rate ever at 1.05%. With interest rates for people like us hovering around the upper-3-to-lower-4 percent range according to Fannie Mae averages, that's pretty crazy.

This is a story about how I used the refinance remodel option to get a new kitchen. Once upon a time I wanted a new kitchen. My wife and I looked around our house and realized that we'd be here for a long time, and it was time to invest some money in one of the rooms where we spent most of our time. When friends come over, we end up shooting the breeze in the kitchen. Between food prep, cooking and clean-up we're in the kitchen almost every night for at least a couple hours it seems like. So as we looked around the kitchen that looked like it was built and decorated in the 1980s we decided it was time for a remodeling project. The problem: cost.

Not every solution is perfect for every problem. Now that the obvious is out of the way, let's look at what this means for you as a homeowner. If your problem is a dying yard, a new lawnmower is a bad solution. You need to water and maybe fertilize your yard. If you're looking at your home and want something newer and maybe bigger, then one solution is to remodel.

Getting a new home usually involves selling, then buying new. But in today's market, selling isn't always a great experience. It's very much a buyer's market right now - which bodes well for you once your house is sold. However, getting the house sold for what you feel it's worth is the trick. With slumping home values, that's not an easy feat. So instead of trying to sell what you have and going through the long process of buying and moving, you have another option to make your old house new again: a refinance remodel.

When the "honey do list" gets to be as long as your arm, it might be time to call in the troops. When the list includes items like a kitchen remodel, a new roof, an entire home re-painting and new floors options like home improvement loans begin to look like quite the lifesaver.

Give me 3 reasons to do anything and I'll at least consider it. If you have 3 reasons, then you've given it some thought - whatever it is. That's the case with the refinance & remodel idea for homeowners. If I can give you 3 reasons to refinance & remodel, then we're giving it some thought. So why would a homeowner like yourself want to refinance their home? Lets' look at a few reasons not to refinance, first.

Your remodeling wish list just found its match. Home improvement loans can help you pay for all kinds of upgrades to your house that you hope to do. If you're looking to do the work yourself over a few weekends with some friends and you don't need much money, then you're all set. But if you don't have the time, money or skills to remodel, then financing a professional may be in your future. Here's a look at 6 remodling projects you can pay for with a home improvement loan.

Question: when does a refinance mortgage make sense? This option could make sense for several different homeowners and different scenarios. Sometimes it's getting a lower interest rate...other times it's so you can cash out the equity in your home to pay off other bills. You may even consider refinancing your mortgage to get into a shorter term to pay it off quicker. Here's a look at a few reasons people consider a refinance mortgage.

Paying for a remodeling project can get dicey in today's housing market. Because of falling home values over the last 5 years, anyone who bought a home in the last 10 years is likely low on equity. Many homeowners just like you are actually upside down on their mortgages, meaning there's negative equity. All of this means home equity loans are hard to come by if not impossible. This is why it's vital to understand the refinance to remodel option when it comes to home improvements.