Earlier this week, Director of the FHFA, Mel Watts announced that HARP (the Home Affordable Refinance Program) will be extended for one more year. From his prepared remarks:
“The HARP program allows borrowers, including those who are underwater on their mortgage and who are regularly making their mortgage payments, to refinance their loans to take advantage of historically low interest rates.
Although the number of new borrowers entering these two programs continues to decline, in part because many eligible borrowers have already taken advantage of them and in part because of recovering house prices, lenders and servicers are continuing to approve new HAMP modifications and HARP refinances. Extending HAMP and HARP through the end of 2016 will provide real relief for borrowers who continue to face challenges either paying their mortgage or refinancing their loan.
For HARP, we are also going to use this time to explore possible streamlined refinance solutions for future Enterprise loans. This evaluation will consider the lessons learned from the HARP program and how those might apply in a non-crisis environment. In the meantime, we want to encourage the 600,000 plus borrowers nationwide who would still benefit from the HARP program to take advantage of HARP while they still have the opportunity to do so and while interest rates remain low…”
I’m hoping that the FHFA will look at streamlined refinances for non-HARP mortgages. For example, waiving or reducing the type of appraisal on homes where the borrowers are very well qualified (low debt to income ratios and higher credit scores). When and if this happens, I’ll be sure to share it with you here.
Meanwhile, if you are interested in refinancing or buying a home anywhere in Washington state, I’m happy to help you! Please click here for a no hassle rate quote.
[…] let’s not forget that the HARP (Home Affordable Refi Program) is available for some conventional mortgages through the end of this year (2016). Homeowners who […]