The Strange Logic of Refinancing

Recently I have had to (well, I chose to) go through the process of refinancing a mortgage (for a better rate of course): gathering documents, signing documents, emails, phone calls, an appraisal, etc.  This is all standard operating procedure, except that I find it strange that I have to do this when refinancing with the same lender with almost exactly the same terms (an x-year fixed ARM for some x).  Since this is billed as an almost no-fee transaction, it means that after everything is said and done, the loan broker, the appraiser, and the title company will all make some profit.

Why can't we cut out the middlemen, and all the hassle, and just mutually agree to revise the terms of the current mortgage?

Paxos Made Simple

Reading Leslie Lamport's Paxos Made Simple is like reading this edition of Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Made Easier to Read).