Thanks to the new HARP 2 program, we are finally going to be able to refinance our house! (The new program doesn't require an appraisal, so it doesn't matter how far upside down you are, which was always our downfall.) After working with the girl at the bank for a while now, we officially put in our application and started the process yesterday! She says it will take 75 days to close, so that's a long time for me to be nervous that something will go wrong, but hopefully sometime in April I'll be back with a big AW post!
The refinance will take us from 6.625% to 4.375% and save us around $350 a month! That's for a 30 year term. We weren't eligible for a 15 year due to the terms of HARP, but I did consider a 20 year. They would only give us 4.25% for the 20 year, so in the end we decided for the extra flexibility of the longer term. It will bring our payment a lot closer to what the house could possibly rent for, so if we ever did want to move, we could rent it for say a $150/month loss instead of $500/month loss, which feels so much more doable.
Yay! I'm so giddy!
Re: small AW: refinance
That's awesome! What a big relief.
Great news! What is the HARP 2 Program?
DH and I would love to refi but we are also upside down in our house. I know DH had said that we have not been eligibile for any onf the progrma available to help homeowners since we do not have a loan that was backed by freddie/fannie. I would be interested in learning more about the HARP 2 porgram to see if it can help us at all.
HARP 2 also requires that it be a fanny or freddie loan. Sorry! I understand how much that sucks because the house I own is not fanny or freddie (we are refinancing the house that DH owns.) It's a really infuriating requirement!
My Ovulation Chart
Aww, crap! We are never going to be able to do anything with this house! It is a sucky requirement. Congrats again though! I can't wait for your big AW post once it is all complete!
congrats! that's awesome.
obama mentioned during his state of the union a new refi program his admin is going to propose that would potentially allow any responsible (current) homeowner to refi. the details are due to come out in a couple of weeks but congress has to approve....we'll see what happens.
Congrats! That has to be an awesome feeling!
Is there an income requirement?
DH and I didn't qualify for the other program because our mortgage wasn't more than 30% of our income. We would have loved to refinance to get our mortgage close to what we could rent it for.
We've never qualified for any other program either. There's no income or debt to income ratio requirement with this one. Also no appraisal like I mentioned before. But there are some other random requirements.
Check http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/programs/lower-rates/Pages/harp.aspx and http://www.bankrate.com/financing/mortgages/harp-2-details-emerge/ or just google HARP 2.
My Ovulation Chart
I was hoping the answer wouldn't have that extra requirement of being a freddie/fannie loan because we are in the same boat. I hope this new thing doesn't have that.
How is it that my BABY is going to be 3?
BFP-2/25/11; 8 Wk U/S-3/25/11-No HB, measured 6.5 wks; D&C