FHA Hope for Homeowners Program, Is It Real?

Posted by Tammy McHood on October 26th, 2008

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.



October 26, 2008 | Filed Under Arizona Home Financing Options, FHA Related Information, Loan Modification, Refinancing in Arizona 

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3 Responses to “FHA Hope for Homeowners Program, Is It Real?”

  1. ATHOR on November 12th, 2008

    HELLO I NEED SOME HELP WITH THIS WHOLE FORECLOSURE ISSUE. MY HOUSE IS DUE TO FORECLOSURE IN FEB. THE LENDER IS BANK OF AMERICA. I HAVE TRIED CALLING THEM AND THEY TELL I DON’T QUALIFY, OR I NEED TO BRING MY 20% UP TO DATE TO QUALIFY, OR THEY HANGUP IN MY FACE(that has happened several times after a discussion) AFTER A HOUR OF BEING ON HOLD. I FOUND SEVERAL PEOPLE LISTED TO MODIFY , BUT THEY WANT MONEY UP FRONT AND NOT REALLY GUARANTEEING THERE RESPONSIBILITY. SO SHOULD I PAY SOMEONE OR HOLD OFF UNTIL THE NEW PRESIDENT ENTERS INTO POWER. WHAT DO I DO. IF ANYONE CAN ANSWER ANY OF THE QUESTIONS PLEASE REPLY BACK. OH YEAH I’M IN ARIZONA

  2. Justin McHood on November 12th, 2008

    @Athor,

    Thanks for the comment! We just sent you an email with our contact information, we would be happy to talk with you further about the specifics of your situation.

    There are more and more options for loan modifications depending on who your current lender is and what your situation is. As recently as yesterday, the “rules are changing” regarding loan modifications and if you called your lender tomorrow, you might get a different answer than you got 3 days ago!

    Justin

  3. Arizona FHA Mortgage Refinance Options: Which Ones Are Real? : Arizona Mortgage Team >> Arizona FHA and Reverse Mortgage Loan Experts. on November 29th, 2008

    [...] Is the FHA Hope for Homeowners program “real”? As we have said before “we think so…” but it has been our experience that people who are interested in the FHA Hope for Homeowners program end up doing an FHA Short Refinance or a Loan Modification with their current lender. [...]

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