As sub prime, Alt-A and 2nd mortgages continue their disappearing act, the GSE’s have been busy trying to help make housing more accessible and affordable. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have brought forth fantastic programs that can help consumers buy homes with no down payment or refinance homes with little remaining equity.

Fannie Mae’s initiative is called MyCommunity Mortgage and I wrote a previous article about that. Freddie Mac has something similar called Home Possible. Here are a few highlights:

• 100% purchase or rate and term refinance, with no minimum borrower contribution. (105% CLTV allowed on SFRs)
• 30 & 40 yr fixed, along with 5/1, 7/1, and 10/1 ARMs for 1–2 unit properties
• 3% seller contribution allowed
• Temporary buydowns allowed with .5% annual increases
• 140% of median income in high cost states like CA
• Reduce MI coverage
• No reserves required (SFR)