About Government Refinance and Home Purchase Programs

After hitting all time lows in July, interest rates on government-backed mortgages began moving up again for most of August. But we have seen a reversal in that upward trend in the last week or so. Mortgage interest rates have improved again for several straight days. Whether mortgage interest rates continue to test all time lows heading in to the fall is in large part dependent on the Fed announcements coming out later this week. Most pundits believe that if the Fed announces it will launch another round of quantitative easing, or “QE3”, that will be worse for mortgage interest rates than it will be if the Fed remains non-committal on the subject. We will be closely monitoring the situation and reporting new developments here.

Contact us in the sidebar to learn more about the government-backed refinance programs that are available.

After breaking records for all time lows in July, mortgage interest rates have slowly begun inching higher again in August. This is in response to some macro-economic news that led to the yields on the 10-year treasury note to increase over the last few weeks. Of course mortgage interest rates increasing again after breaking new record lows was inevitable, but the good news is that so far the rates are still near those all time lows.

There is no telling where rates will be in a few months, but odds are that in a couple of years 30 year fixed mortgage rates will be back in the more normal 5-7% range rather than in the high 3s and low 4s like they are now in many cases.

Not everyone can qualify for a government-backed refinance but the folks who can and do refinance to these low rates will be in an enviable situation for years to come. Contact us in the form on the right to get more information about the government-backed refinance programs available.

Like many of the government-backed refinance programs that proceeded it, the HARP 2.0 program is not running quite as smoothly as planned. The problem for borrowers is that very few lenders have chosen to participate in the program. Worse than that, some lenders that initially were participating in HARP 2.0 have recently chosen to back out of the program. The very limited number lenders participating in this program has led to long turn times. In some cases it is taking more than three months from start to finish on HARP 2.0 loans. Borrowers who have Freddie Mac loans or who have mortgage insurance are having the hardest time finding a lender who will help them with the HARP 2.0 program, and when they do find a participating lender they are in for very long waits. Borrowers with Fannie Mae loans that do not have mortgage insurance tend to get somewhat better rates and relatively faster turnaround times but with the HARP 2.0 program the process is rarely quick or easy.

But on the bright side, HARP 2.0 is up and running and while it can take months to get a HARP 2.0 loan, many underwater borrowers have waited years for a chance to improve their interest rates so perhaps a few months waiting is not all that bad after all.

Contact us in the sidebar if you have a conventional mortgage that is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and would like to be connected with a lender who is participating in the HARP 2.0 program.

The record low mortgage interest rates we have seen in the last couple of months are persisting this summer. Ongoing troubles with the European and US economies are serving to keep yields on US treasuries low and mortgage interest rates are following suit. While there has been some recent pullback among many lenders from government-backed refinance programs like the FHA streamline program and HARP 2.0, those programs are still available to borrowers, even if it is taking a bit longer than usual to complete the refinancing.

At this point rates are so astonishingly low that most American mortgage holders should be at least investigating a refinance. In many cases borrowers can get 30 year fixed mortgages in the 3’s and still break even on closing costs in less than a year. And rates on 15 year fixed mortgages are getting as low as the low 3’s or even high 2’s in some cases. Refinancing to a significantly lower interest rate can save borrowers hundreds of dollars per month and many tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan in most cases.

Contact us using the form to the right to learn more about the programs available and to get an estimate on a government-backed mortgage refinance.