How Low Will They Go?

Mortgage rates are dropping and remain at all time lows. Many folks have already taken advantage of this historic opportunity and locked in their rates and completed their refinancing. If you have not, then perhaps now is a good time to assess whether this opportunity is right for you. Many banks will roll the closing fees into your loan, leaving only application and appraisal fees for you to pay. Your bank should be able to guide you through this process and help you analyze whether the decision to refinance makes sense to you.

There are some factors you should consider:

• What will be my monthly savings?
• What are the closing costs involved and how many months will it take me to recover?
• How long do I plan on living here?

These are some pretty basic questions, but important to ask before making the decision to refinance.

There might be some of you out there thinking you can’t qualify due to being “upside down” in your mortgage, meaning you owe more than your home is worth or would appraise for due to the housing downturn. You might be surprised to find that you just might be eligible for a special program call the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). For detailed information, please visit www.makinghomeaffordable.gov. The general criteria are as follows:

• You own a one unit to four unit home that is your primary residence
• Your mortgage is owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
• You are current on your mortgage payments and have not been more than 30 days late making a payment within the past 12 months
• You have a first mortgage not exceeding 125% of the current market value of your home
• You have income sufficient to support the new mortgage payments
• You can improve the long-term affordability or stability of your loan with the refinance

In addition to the above website, if you’re interested in determining your eligibility for the above program, you can call the Homeowner’s HOPE hotline at 1-888-995-4673.

What’s your mortgage rate? Financing your home is one the biggest costs in our respective lives, so let’s be vigilant about saving where we can.

info@mcarthurco.com
704.544.8429