As we wrote about in recent months, the HARP refinance program has now been expanded to allow more homeowners the option to refinance and take advantage of historically low interest rates. The program is a government backed initiative to allow borrowers who could previously not refinance, due to lack of equity or being upside down in their homes, to now do so.
HARP 2.0 is now set to officially become available to borrowers who have loans that are serviced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with no restrictions on value. In other words, the current appraised value of your home will not disqualify you from refinancing, regardless of value.
There are of course certain other guidelines that must be met to qualify for this refinance program.
First, your home loan must owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and must have been acquired by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac prior to June 1, 2009. Even though you may make payments to a loan servicer, if you have a conventional loan, then it is probably owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
To see if your loan is owned by Fannie Mae you can go directly to: http://www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup and input your property information. While to see if your home is owned by Freddie Mac, you must go to: https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/ and enter personal and property information.
Now, if your home loan does fall into these guidelines, then you will be eligible to refinance into a current market interest rate, which still sit at historical low levels, generally without any out of pocket costs.
For full qualification, of course it is always advisable to contact a licensed mortgage lender, such as Strategic Mortgage.
In addition, in the coming weeks, we will provide additional information on the HARP 2.0 loan program.
For more information on home purchase loan or refinance programs for existing and potential home owners, please contact Bill Kamboukos of Strategic Mortgage at (480) 219-3682 or by emailing: info@strategicmtgaz.com or online at www.strategicmtgaz.com
Comments(0)