We can get a 25-year fixed at 4.875 if we buy a point, so there are about $4500 in expenses wrapped in. (We just paid off the car 2 years early — hooray! — so we don’t have cash on hand to just pay that $4500 or we would.)

Even still, we’re saving interest long-term *and* lowering the monthly payment, so unless I’m missing something, it looks like win-win. I called and left a message today and will call again tomorrow if I don’t hear from him in the morning.

I rent my condo – with a $500 loss every month (including HOA).
Other than the condo and student loans, I have no debt and have never been late on paying the mortgage. I have two loans, the first is backed by Freddie Mac and the second is owned by BoA. I want to refinance my first loan to ease up on my monthly expenses. Am I qualified to participate in the MHA program?

I just spoke with the same BoA broker that helped me purchase my home four years ago. He started off by saying that I qualified for a MHA refinance, with minimal closing costs and a $35 application fee. I said, great – let’s do it. Then he called back and said that Freddie Mac doesn’t recognize the program. BUT if I am reading this blog correctly, FM does support the program so, did he lie to me? Any suggestions as to what I should do next?

I read another blog before this one and it mentioned that FM doesn’t do refinances for condos – is that true?

My first loan is backed by Freddie Mac. I called BoA and spoke to the same broker that helped me buy my house.

We have 26 years left on our mortgage. (And looking at the amortization, if we stick to the current plan, we owe more in INTEREST than our house is worth right now. How depressing is that???)

I’ll try again and let you know. Thanks for your help.

Definitely call back and try another rep. How many years are left on your current mortgage? If it is any less then 20 (we had 27) I would tell them you want to go with a 20 year refinance with a lower rate. That was by far the best deal (and situation) for us.

He offered us a 30-year fixed with an interest rate half a point lower than what we’re currently paying. Monthly payment smaller. I asked him about life-of-the-loan interest, and he told me we’d save tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. When I asked for specifics, he said I could look it up online. Thank you, I will do that and call you back.

I looked up the two amortizations – our current and the proposed. Unlike the “tens of thousands” he promised we’d save, we would actually pay an extra $16K (roughly) over the long term. If we hadn’t been paying for several years already, that wouldn’t be true, but we have been, so it is.

But before our conversation ended, I asked about getting rid of closing costs. He said that no one does that anywhere ever. I mentioned that you (“a friend”) had done it, and he said that if you look at your HUD sheet, there are closing costs. I haven’t seen your HUD, so I didn’t argue. (Can you help me out with that?)

The 15-year would add about $300/month onto our payment, and we really can’t swing that. The 20-year had almost $6K in closing costs, which I just have a big problem with.

I called back and left a message and said thanks anyway.

I will probably call and speak to his supervisor on Monday, since he flat-out lied about the long-term financial outcome. Saving 10s of thousands and paying an extra 16K are two very different things.

As far as your taxes go, you can appeal the tax amounts… call your municipal taxing authority (city, township, etc.) and see about appealing the amount. If you’re going to do an appeal it is a good idea to get an appraisal done first… so you have a concrete value to base your argument on.

Godspeed!

The problem is that we can’t afford the monthly payment to go up (it’s gone up $200 in the last few months because of taxes – how the value can decrease $130K and the taxes go up is beyond me). So they’ll give us a 20- 25- or 30-year fixed, but there are closing costs, so I’m not convinced it’s a good deal. I need to take the numbers and figure it all out (amortization schedule) and see. Is there a website that can help with that?

We’re currently in a 30-year fixed at 5.85%, which isn’t bad. We’re right at the break-even point (if our value hasn’t decreased in the last 6 months), so we’re not upside down but we have no equity. I’d like to save a little money both short-term AND long term if possible

Still thinking this all through.

FWIW – I got a letter from BOA saying we were eligible.

If you’re unsure whether F or F own your loan, go to this website to find out.

Don’t give up… check into the MHA program for your situation – I was totally surprised by the fact that I was able to refi and save so much money over the life of the loan.

I read above that through the MHA program it had to be with 2 of the above lenders, but then someone else commented that you just needed to refi through an MHA approved lender. How do you find one?

We had our house appraised at the end of 2009 and were told by Huntington Bank that it wasn’t worth enough to refinance and we just gave up.

Please help! Have a blessed night!