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Scottsdale Arizona Mortgage Rates November 21 2008
Scottsdale Arizona Mortgage Rates for November 21, 2008
Quick Mortgage News Update
Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae temporarily halted foreclosure sales and evictions. Fannie Mae, issued Lender Letter 04-08 announcing that they are “halting all foreclosure sales on occupied single-family properties that are scheduled to occur from November 26, 2008 through January 9, 2009. This temporary halt also applies to eviction lockouts of occupied single-family properties.”
Fannie & Freddie are working with FHFA, to implement their streamlined loan modification program by December 15, 2008.
Are Loan Modifications Real?
The other night, I found myself in the twilight zone and was having flashbacks to the year 2005.
I was at a neighbors house and he was having a “neighborhood get-together” with a handful of other families. We live in a newly built neighborhood and new people are moving in all the time, so I was meeting a few of our neighbors for the first time. One of them asked what I did for a living and when I answered “oh, Tammy and I are mortgage folks”, it was the trigger where the twilight zone theme started playing in my mind.
If you lived in Arizona in 2005 and attended a neighborhood party, what was the main topic that seemed to dominate every conversation?
In 2005, the main topic that dominated neighborhood conversations all around Arizona seemed to be the recent run-up in home values and “could you believe that so-and-so paid how much for that house?”
Fast forward to 2008.
The main topic of our neighborhood party today?
“Can you believe what so-and-so’s bank did to modify their loan? Their new house payment is only going to be __________ for the next 5 years!”
I left the party scratching my head… I mean - it was full of all kinds of stories about people getting their loan modified. You almost felt out of place there if you hadn’t had yours modified!
I would estimate that a full 25% of all of the people there had already had their loan modified and after the stories that were being told, I wouldn’t be surprised if the other 75% wasn’t far behind them in getting the process started.
Are loan modifications real?
Yes. Yes, they are.
And they apparently are only going to get more popular in coming months if/when the federal government begins to encourage lenders to modify people’s loans.
Having Trouble Making Your Mortgage Payment? Bailout Talk Live On KTAR!
Arizona Mortgage Team on KTAR Radio
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This morning we were live on the radio with KTAR superstar Darrell Ankarlo talking about the 700 billion bailout and what it means to people who are having trouble making their mortgage payment. The discussion centered around “what should I do if I am having trouble making my mortgage payment?”
My general answer was “keep talking to your lender about what your options are because the rules are changing almost daily about what lenders are and aren’t willing to do. If you spoke to your lender last week and they told you that they couldn’t help you, call back again this week. And next week. And the week after that.”
Why?
Because as I said on the air – the rules are changing and the federal government may soon be coming out with packages that will incentivize lenders to get better at working with borrowers.
Arizona Mortgage Rates for November 14, 2008
FHA Hope for Homeowners Program, Is It Real?
More and more people are contacting us asking about the newly-announced FHA Hope for Homeowners program and how to qualify, what will work and won’t work with the guidelines, etc.
The good news is that FHA has issued a few press releases about the program and we have some high-level guidelines to look at as we begin to work with people to help them get qualified.
The bad news is that many lenders and investors have not yet put their guidelines in place and so we caught in this cycle of “maybe this will work” but not knowing for sure and often times many lenders are not sure what they can and can’t do.
As a result, we have yet to *complete* an FHA Hope for Homeowners loan — although we have a few at various stages of the origination process.
Is the FHA Hope for Homeowners program real?
Yes, we think so.
Is Hope for Homeowners the right program for you?
Maybe, maybe not.
Many of the people we talk to may be able to realize more benefit from a short-refinance than they would benefit from a Hope for Homeowners loan and so we are working with lenders to do a short refinance when possible.
How does a short-refinance work?
Think short-sale except for rather than sell your home to someone else for less than you currently owe, you just refinance it and your current bank excepts less than you currently owe.
Short refinance, Hope for Homeowners, loan modification, short sales.
In today’s mortgage world, those are the three most common things that we seem to be talking with people about.
Which one is right for you?
It depends on things like whether you want to live in your home or just get rid of it. Or whether or not you are current on your house payment. Or who your current lender is. Or whether or not you currently could qualify for a new loan.
As always, we are available to share our experience and help you through the process.
Loan Modification Contact List
In the past, we have written about what you should do if you are having trouble making your mortgage payments. First, talk with your lender by yourself and try to get your loan modified. Second, contact a HUD-approved Housing Counseling Agency. Third, contact a loan modification company.
I just found a loan modification contact list where it looks like contact information is posted for most of the major lenders’ loss mitigation departments is posted.
Hat tip to Todd Carpenter at Lenderama for sharing!
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Arizona Mortgage Newsletter
