Have you refinanced your mortgage yet?

[wartknight]

try the new HARP 2 loan program... just instated couple weeks ago.

LTV doesn't matter as long as you can prove no 30-day lates within the last 18 months

I assume that only works on a primary residence?

[CLONECONES]

I assume that only works on a primary residence?

any home --- the only kicker is that you have to be somewhat "underwater" on the amount owed on the property LTV around or above 80ish%

your mortgage needs to be owned by fannie or freddie and had to be orginated before 2009

there are restrictions if you have an ARM or non-conventional mortage currently, but I don't believe most of you would

we have a list of about 10 "benefits" to the borrower, and you must hit one for complete eligibility... these include: switching from adjustable rate to fixed, lowering the monthly payment by x%, etc....



i saw we because i am a mortgage underwriter =P

[VeloClone]

any home --- the only kicker is that you have to be somewhat "underwater" on the amount owed on the property LTV around or above 80ish%

your mortgage needs to be owned by fannie or freddie and had to be orginated before 2009

there are restrictions if you have an ARM or non-conventional mortage currently, but I don't believe most of you would

Does anyone know roughly what percentage of loans are owned by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac? It's frustrating to see this offered up but to only a selection of the struggling borrowers out there.

[CLONECONES]

Does anyone know roughly what percentage of loans are owned by Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac? It's frustrating to see this offered up but to only a selection of the struggling borrowers out there.

majority of every mortgage out there is - as long as it's not a sub-prime/delequent note

if you want to check to see, Does Fannie Mae Own Your Mortgage? Loan Lookup Tool check that out

[VeloClone]

majority of every mortgage out there is - as long as it's not a sub-prime/delequent note

if you want to check to see, Does Fannie Mae Own Your Mortgage? Loan Lookup Tool check that out

Thanks, CC!

EDIT: "No Match Found"

Looks like no dice for me. By the way I am not delinquent and my loan wasn't subprime. Our score was in the 800's when we financed.

[Clonefan94]

Sticking at 5.25 since I am close to paying it off

This is the boat we were in.

Had a 30 year, after 5 years, everything dropped down to 5ish. Everyone said, Oh, you need to refinance. But looking at the numbers, the costs, the fact that I hadn't hit the principal with a tack hammer, yeah, monthly payments would have been a bit cheaper, but after factoring everything in, I would have just been giving the bank 5 more years of interest money and everything was a wash for me.

I told my bank at the time, if it was so great, get me into a 15 year. And they did, for basically what we were paying for a 30 year. That was huge and I saved a ton of money on it that way. We are so close now, there's no way refinancing would do me much good.

I am not a financial guy, but all the numbers I put together said that once you get about 5+ years into 30 year mortgage, it has to be a substantial drop in interest rate to really do you any good going back into a 30 year. Monthly payments look cheaper, but you also just added 5 years to your mortgage plus all the closing costs you'll get hit with. The best way to tackle that is to refi, then add the saved money to pay off your principal, then you will pay the house off early and save even more on interest. Or go down to a 15 year from the 30.

Granted, this has a lot to do with monthly expenses and how much that monthly payment really means to you. My wife and I bought well within our budget, so The monthly payment wasn't as big of a deal to us as just getting it paid off.

[CLONECONES]

Thanks, CC!

EDIT: "No Match Found"

Looks like no dice for me. By the way I am not delinquent and my loan wasn't subprime. Our score was in the 800's when we financed.

https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/

try freddie :)

but there are discreptancies between addresses used... official 9 digit zip/abbreviations so if you wanted to really make sure, talk to your mortgage company and they can give you the status of your note

[VeloClone]

https://ww3.freddiemac.com/corporate/

try freddie :)

but there are discreptancies between addresses used... official 9 digit zip/abbreviations so if you wanted to really make sure, talk to your mortgage company and they can give you the status of your note

"Yes. Our records show that Freddie Mac is the owner of your mortgage. "

Thanks again, CC. And to think Mrs. Velo thinks I am wasting my time on CF.

Rep gun is shooting blanks. You will just have to settle for my unending gratitude and imaginary rep... +1i

[CLONECONES]

"Thanks again, CC. And to think Mrs. Velo thinks I am wasting my time on CF.

Rep gun is shooting blanks. You will just have to settle for my unending gratitude and imaginary rep... +1

haha no problem, just get me a CLONECONE sometime

[CarlHungus]

I have a question for the mortgage experts out there. I am a recent college grad, and don't have much money saved up for a 20% down payment. Preferably I would like to wait a while to pay off my student loans and get at least 15% saved, but I'm afraid that the rates will be much higher when I do buy a house if I did this. Would it be better to find a bank that would allow something like a 5% down payment or get an FHA loan to make sure I get a low interest rate?

[VeloClone]

haha no problem, just get me a CLONECONE sometime

Getting it won't be a problem. Shipping it to Orlando will be the problem.

[CLONECONES]

I have a question for the mortgage experts out there. I am a recent college grad, and don't have much money saved up for a 20% down payment. Preferably I would like to wait a while to pay off my student loans and get at least 15% saved, but I'm afraid that the rates will be much higher when I do buy a house if I did this. Would it be better to find a bank that would allow something like a 5% down payment or get an FHA loan to make sure I get a low interest rate?

I feel ya im a recent grad as well... I'm approving loans with insane pricing knowing that I'll never get something this good.

But - most banks do have very generous stips for first time home buyers.... see what your options are and if you can find something that you can make work, it would definitely be worthwhile to take advantage of a ~4% fixed

[resident]

I have a question for the mortgage experts out there. I am a recent college grad, and don't have much money saved up for a 20% down payment. Preferably I would like to wait a while to pay off my student loans and get at least 15% saved, but I'm afraid that the rates will be much higher when I do buy a house if I did this. Would it be better to find a bank that would allow something like a 5% down payment or get an FHA loan to make sure I get a low interest rate?

How sure are you that you want to stay where you currently live? I bought my condo thinking I would be in KC for at least 5 years but got an interview outside San Francisco barely a year after I bought and immediately faced the possibility of moving to California while sitting on 29 more years of mortgage. My advice is to wait a couple years until you see how your career is shaking out or make sure that you are buying a place in an attractive rental area.

[CarlHungus]

How sure are you that you want to stay where you currently live? I bought my condo thinking I would be in KC for at least 5 years but got an interview outside San Francisco barely a year after I bought and immediately faced the possibility of moving to California while sitting on 29 more years of mortgage. My advice is to wait a couple years until you see how your career is shaking out or make sure that you are buying a place in an attractive rental area.

I'm about 95% sure I will be in the central Iowa area. I have a job here and my fiance' is looking in the area too. Like I said, the ideal situation would be to pay off our student loans and save up for a larger down payment, but I don't want to miss out on these interest rates either

[capitalcityguy]

^ FWIW...earlier poster (who works in the industry) indicated that rates are supposed to stay low until at least 2014. I'd do some research to see if you can find other sources to back this up and if so, I'd save up the cash and wait.

Many of the losers from this latest housing bubble where people who bought before they could really afford it. They all fell for the "why rent, when you can buy" line. Now they are paying the painful price.

Read Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover, and see if you are still anxious to jump in and buy with little money down. If that doesn't convince you to wait maybe some of the testimonies on this thread will help.