The Federal Government introduced this program in 2009 to assist homeowners in refinancing even if they do not have enough equity in their home to qualify for a traditional refinance. Originally the program required that you owe no more than 105% of the value of your home, and then it was increased to allow you to refinance as long as you owe no more than 125% of the value of your home.
On October 24th, President Obama announced enhancements to this program that allows for you to refinance your conventional loan without regard to the value to your home! This program is an extension of the original HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) or HARP 2.0.
Refinance regardless of how much the value of your home has dropped.
Step 1 is to determine if your loan qualifies.
Click on each of these links and enter the information for each home you own to determine if you are secured with one of the Government Sponsored Entities.
Fannie Mae Lookup Tool Freddie Mac Lookup Tool
Step 2 is to determine if your loan is “old enough”
The HARP program allows for refinancing of loans that were secured with fannie or freddie prior to June 1 2009. The problem is that some lenders take a few weeks to get the loan sold or “secured” with fannie or freddie, and other lenders take months… therefore if your current 1st mortgage was funded AFTER June 1 2009, you can be SURE that you are NOT eligible for this program in it’s current form (but the rules are constantly changing, so I encourage you to join my mailing list so I can keep you updated).
If your current loan was funded prior to April 1, 2009, then you can be 99% sure that you are eligible, and you can start the process by clicking here.
If your current loan funded between April 1 and June 1 2009, then you may or may not qualify, and the only way to find out is to have me run your loan application thru their system (you can start that process by clicking here)
Step 3 is to determine if YOU qualify.
Just because you are “eligible” based on the first 2 steps above, that does not guarantee that you qualify for the refinance. Typically there are still minimum requirements regarding your payment history on your mortgage, as well as potentially needing to have a minimum credit score, documentation of sufficient income, and potentially an appraisal on your home.
The guidelines allow for a refinance REGARDLESS of the value of your home compared to the balance, but that does NOT automatically mean you do not need an appraisal. The computer system that we run your application thru will check with Fannie or Freddie to determine if you need an appraisal. Usually the answer will be NO, but there are times when it says you are NOT eligible for an appraisal waiver, which means you would be required to pay for an appraisal of your home.
In order to determine your ability to qualify, we have to run your loan application thru our system. You can get that process started by either completing our contact form, or submitting a full online application. Either way, we will get back to you within a couple days and let you know what options you have.
Don’t delay… your upside down home could be crushing you (like this guy)
