Refinancing Your Home With HARP 2.0
Hello everyone this is Kelly Cook with the Cook & Associates Real Estate Advisors, your :k1: short sale specialist. We can be found online at www.azkcrealestategroup.com; we specialize in helping homeowners throughout the entire :k1: area find alternatives to foreclosure through the means of a short sale.
Today’s topic is HARP 2.0, which has very little to do with doing a short sale. It’s a brand new government initiative program under the Making Homes Affordable Act. It’s so new that we feel it’s relevant to speak about it so that borrowers can find information out about it and see if it applies to their situation. You do have to qualify for this program. There are three things you have to do to qualify: you have to have made on-time payments for the last six months minimum, your loan has to be backed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and your loan has to have originated before June 1, 2009. If you meet those three requirements, you could potentially qualify to do a HARP 2.0 refinance. It is a rate and term refinance, so if you have a higher interest rate, it’s designed to give you today’s current lower interest rate by refinancing your loan, therefore being able to have a lower payment.
The downside about HARP is that it does nothing to address the negative equity you may have on your home. If you’re upside down $100,000, unfortunately, you’re still going to be upside down by $100,000. Obviously it’s not for everyone, but if you’re looking to explore more, we can help you out.
We can tell you more about HARP 2.0 or provide you with information on short selling your home in the :k1: area, so contact us today on our website, email us at info@cookandassociatesaz.com or call us at 480.442.9868. We hope you’ve found this information very useful; we look forward to speaking with you soon and helping you with all of your real estate and short sale needs.