July 1, 2015
House prices are on the rise and could even be approaching highs not seen since 2006 according to some financial reports. According to the Black Knight Financial Services Home Price Index, prices are well under 10% away from their 2006 peaks.
According to the Black Knight official site, “The Black Knight HPI combines the companys extensive property and loan-level databases to produce a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates every month for each of more than 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes. The Black Knight HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for REO and short sales.”
According to the report, Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, and New York all hit new house price peaks in April 2015, and Washington leads the U.S. with a two percent month-over-month gain. That could be very good news for anyone looking for an FHA refinance loan that requires a new appraisal.
Are house prices going up in your neighborhood? What happens to the potential borrowing power of someone who has built up equity in their home and are seeing their neighborhood property values increase? Now might be a very good time to consider your options.
FHA refinance loans aren’t just for existing FHA home loans, either. You can apply for a with-appraisal FHA cash-out or no-cash-out refinance loan for a conventional mortgage in the same way as borrowers apply for cash-out FHA-to-FHA refi loans.
Also, borrowers who are currently in adjustable rate mortgages (FHA or non-FHA) should also look at their refinance loan potential–getting into a fixed rate loan from the adjustable rate mortgage is considered a tangible benefit. Those with existing FHA loans can get an FHA Streamline Refinance into a fixed rate mortgage and eliminate the changing interest rates from their payment plans.
Streamline refinance loans are only for FHA-to-FHA refinances but cash-out and no-cash out FHA refinancing is definitely an option for any VA or conventional borrower. Talk to a lender about your refinance loan options including adjustable rate-to-fixed rate, ARM-to-ARM, Graduated Payment Mortgage refinancing, and more.
Do you have questions about FHA home loans? Ask us in the comments section.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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