Hi Vance...are you ok?? I'll try to answer to your question hoping you understand my english!!!
If the amount of interests that you still have to pay is hight ...is better for you to put cash in.....otherwise you risk to pay today the capital amount that you have the possibility to pay after 25 years...
Of course everything dipends on your cash.....
Regards from Paula.
Thank you Paula! No, the rate is very low right now.
Yes ...I know that the rate is very low now...you said 4.75%....
But you have to know that at the beginning you pay only the interests...after that the capital amount....
If you have already paid all the interests, and you give them back a part of the mortgage ...yes you will pay less per month...but you will give now what you could give tomorrow.
I know, the down side is having to pay for five more years. Still going from 5.875% to only 5% -- or 4.75% -- seems like progress!
I think is convenient to pay a part of the mortgage now.....(if you still have 5 years of interests to pay...) . Watch up the cost of the operation ......
You mean put in extra money to borrow less? Yes, I might do that, just to lower the monthly payment.
Yes...that's it!!!
Hiya Vance...just for the sake of it all...and because you're a great guy!
I must state what I'm doing, k? It appears that rates are going to go even lower! The Financial New Network is saying that they expect rates to fall to 3.0! Therefore, they were alluding to the notion that imagine when that happens think of the re-financing dollars hit the ecomomy.
Like I said this is all from the biz experts if there is such a thing. Two things I learned in the investment side of my life:
1) Cash is King; Especially in times of uncertainty like now...and,
2) Cash is still King; meaning of course we want some liquidity right? Although, I would be the person making very, very good use of my furniture and between wall space (lol!) 
Nothing to do with chess at all, but there is so much expertise on this site in other areas as well that I figured maybe I can ask for advice? Rates are down. Right now the 30-year fixed is 5% with no points. Or 4.75% with one point. My current mortgage is 5.875% (30-year fixed), and I am almost five years in, so still paying almost all interest (never pre-paid). I can take cash out and still pay less per month, or I can put cash in and pay much less. Too many good options! But alas I digress. My real question is about that point. Given a fixed dollar amount I want to bring to the table (or, equivalently, say a given fixed dollar amount that I am prepared to deduct from what I cash out), is it better to apply this to the points and reduce the interest rate, or to the principal amount? I can't imagine that the answer depends on the specific dollar amount I intend to borrow (and even this is still up in the air). Well, thanks in advance to anyone who might be able to shed some light on this matter!