Should EquiPoint refinance?
Prepared for Kent Billiter · from the 25 Aug 2026 call · every figure below recalculates as you change an input.
What each rate costs you
Your row is highlighted. The point of the table: even a bad outcome beats the step-up, so the rate you land is a bonus, not the decision.
| Rate | Payment | vs. $28,000 | Saved / year | Interest over term |
|---|
The three tests a lender will run
Ask every lender these six questions
The rate is the headline. Questions 1 and 2 are what actually decide whether this loan is a trap — and neither came up on the call.
- Is it fully amortizing for the full term, or is there a balloon? Most farm & ranch loans are quoted as "30-year" but are really a 25–30 year amortization with a 5 or 10-year balloon. That would drop you back into exactly the refinance cliff you are paying to escape — with no control over the rate environment on that date. A true 30-year fixed is the entire objective here.
- What is the prepayment penalty? You have said the property is your exit in 5–10 years and that developers want the land. Yield maintenance or defeasance on a $3.2M note can cost six figures to break early. Ask for a step-down (5-4-3-2-1) or an open prepay, and treat this as a deal term you negotiate, not a disclosure you accept.
- Do you escrow taxes and insurance, and is escrow required? Your payment today excludes ~$20,000/yr of property tax. Whether that sits in escrow changes your monthly number by roughly $1,667.
- What does a buy-down actually cost? Price 0, 1, and 2 points and compare each against how long you will realistically hold. A buy-down you sell out of in year six rarely pays back.
- How do you underwrite the income? Ask whether they use trailing 12-month NOI, a 2-year average, or a forward pro-forma. On a growing operation the difference is decisive — a 2-year average punishes you for last year while a trailing 12 rewards the growth you are buying with the ad increase.
- Do you lend on equestrian operations specifically, and can I see a comparable closed deal? A general ag lender who has never financed a riding facility will underwrite it as bare land plus buildings and miss the operating value entirely.
Where to start
Specialist farm & ranch lenders, not a retail bank — this loan cannot be sold to Fannie or Freddie, so the lender holds it and the list of banks willing to do that is short. Begin with Capital Farm Credit and Lone Star Ag Credit (both Texas Farm Credit System, and the System lends on equine facilities routinely), then AgAmerica and Farmer Mac-approved lenders for a rate check. Run three in parallel — term sheets are free and the spread between the best and worst is usually larger than any negotiation you can win with one lender.