Real Estate
Mortgage rates: Despite low-interest rates, not all homeowners are refinancing. Should you refinance now?
USA TODAY
![Patrick Naughton and his son Brendan](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2021/06/10/USAT/6ea2e060-1335-4641-be92-fad00200f97e-Patrick.jpeg?width=300&height=534&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Patrick Naughton describes himself as "house poor."
In 2001, when he bought a ranch home for $336,500 in Braintree, Massachusetts, Naughton hoped he could pay off his 30-year mortgage by retirement and own his home outright.
“In a perfect world I would have had 10 years left on my original loan,” he says. “But life throws a lot of curveballs.”
A divorce spun Naughton, 53, who raised his six children as a single dad, into a financial mess that almost cost him his house. While he managed to hold on to it, he could barely make a dent in his loan amount despite working two jobs.