Phoenix Mortgage Refinance Relief Program for Underwater Mortgages

The much anticipated details of the new Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) rules have been released – NOW WHAT??  

If you haven’t heard, HARP is designed to help Phoenix home owners with mortgage rates above the current market refinance that previously couldn’t because of appraised value
restrictions.  The old HARP program limited lenders to refinancing a loan as long as the mortgage balance didn’t exceed 125% of the appraised value.  This offered minimal help to many Phoenix home owners because housing values had declined so drastically over the past few years.

A couple of important things to remember with the Phoenix HARP refinance program:  

• Borrower’s mortgage must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before June 1^st 2009
• Click here to see if your loan is owned by Fannie Mae or click here to see if your loan is owned by Freddie Mac
• Borrower must be making on time payments for the last 6 months and no more than 1 late payment in last 12 months (months 7-12)

On Nov 15^th the following updates were released by Fannie and Freddie:

Please click here to read Fannie Mae Announcement

Please click here to read Freddie Mac Announcement

After reading both Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s guidelines, the new home loan will not be able to close with an LTV higher than 125% (determined by an automated evaluation vs an appraisal) until on or after March 15^th, 2012.   Potential refinance candidates will have time before the new guidelines take effect and should prepare accordingly.  Most lenders are also still waiting to hear which investors will be participating in these programs and if any overlays will impact the new loans.

To keep current on the most up-to-date details email david@dkhomeloans.com with “HARP Details” as the subject line.  Include your contact information to receive ongoing information.