President Obama recently announced a revamp of the Home Affordable Refinance program. What does this mean for homeowners whose home values have declined? The following post looks at some of the details of this plan.
The original version of this program helped fewer than 20% of the applicants and is viewed by most industry insiders as a failure. So, will this new program be revamped enough to be a benefit to homeowners and help the housing industry? Time will tell but some of the details make me skeptical.
Here are some of the details:
- Homeowners must be current on their mortgage for at least the last 6 consecutive months & not have more than 1 late payment in the last 12 months.
- The homeowner’s current financial situation is not taken into account nor is how far their home value has declined.
- The mortgage cannot have been refinanced in the last 30 months.
- Only mortgages bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before June of 2009 are eligible.
If you are considering this option, please educate yourself about the program before jumping in. If you have questions, or don’t know who to call, please contact us today. We have a list of resources and mortgage brokers who may be able to help you weigh your options. An educated consumer is the best consumer.