Los Angeles

[Gregory Britton]

You may have heard that President Obama plans to open up refinancing to more homeowners who are underwater. If you are wondering what this means...and if you can benefit...here are some facts to consider.

First, it's important to realize that the president's proposal is not a new program, but a revision to the current Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). However there is a big change: Now homeowners can refinance no matter how underwater they are! Before homeowners could only refinance if they were 25% or less underwater, and even then many banks only let people who were 5% or less underwater refinance.

Also, with the revision it's possible that an appraisal won't have to be performed, which is great news as this will save time and money. But this is only the case if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac can electronically estimate the value through their valuation models.

Keep in mind that these updates to HARP apply only to people whose mortgage is currently secured by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac...and whose loan was securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac prior to May 31, 2009. So the chances are that people who have refinanced since May 2009 will not qualify to refinance under the HARP revision.

As of now, the revisions to HARP have been proposed by President Obama and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This directive has been given to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and they now have until November 15, 2011 to give guidance and details regarding how these changes will be run.

To read more details, you can visit the FHFA Web site. And if you have any questions at all about what these changes mean or how they could impact you, call or email me anytime. I'm always happy to help.

[melindacloe]

Hi there, (What do I call you? G?)

     Okay for now... Dear G, I was hoping you might have an answer as to what the underwater homeowners that aren't with Freddie Mac or Fanny Mae are to do? The house we bought for 365,000 is now valued at 125,000. How's that for underwater? It's amazing to me that no one can come up with a solution for people such as myself. I want to buy a house in Orange County so that I can be near my (adult) kids but since I'll have to rent this one, ( I can't forclose or short sale because I won't quallify for another one.) And because I have the first one, I'll only qualify for 125,00 for a second house. (Now that's going to be a toughie in Ca. right?) It's like you can't get there from here... we have to suffer because the gov. screwed up.  What is going on, is there no intelligent formula to get out of this mess our housing market is in? (We dIdn't realize that trying to build some security for our future by putting 100,000 down would backfire so dramatically. Might as well have used the 100,000 to light the fire) Anyway if you have any words of wisdom for me, or... if you have an e-mail foreclosure list for those that will only qualify for 125,000 and want to be in a good area, plz count me in. I'm hoping to get a nice two bedroom two bath open floor plan in a good area, for roughly 125,000, or if I have to rent, around 1200. Appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks for your time. Melinda Cloe.

[landkitty]

Hi Melinda,

I would like to buy your home the one that underwater: "The house we bought for 365,000 is now valued at 125,000". If you  would like to sell it, please contact me. I am at G/mail and my id is landkitty.Thanks

[Jameson R.]

Melinda -

I'm confused - how is it the governments fault that you are underwater? The housing market collapse is due to only one thing - greed. The banks made bad loans because they wanted more money from the loan fees. The real estate agents kept pushing the market value up because that increased their commisions. The apprasiers went along with the upward spiral. I can't tell you how many times I heard "..since that last house sold for X dollars, then the next one must be worth X+ dollars..." People got into homes they couldn't afford because they were so sure that the market would keep going up and they would make money. At this point be happy that you still have your home, and maybe you should wait until the market comes back instead of blaming somone else.