Articles Tagged With: FHA Streamline Refinance

March 25, 2020

Refinance Loan Options You Should Know

At one point during the coronavirus crisis, refinance applications spiked. Some sources report that spike hitting over 100% at the height of the application surge; people rushed to take advantage of sub-three-percent mortgage loan interest rates. Part of the surge may also have been due (this is speculation) to a misconception that when the Fed performed emergency interest rate cuts, it directly cut mortgage rates. The Fed doesn’t function that way, but the misunderstanding of how the Fed works may have contributed to the overall impression that refinance loan rates were going still lower. In the news, talk of an economic recession puts fear in the minds of some homeowners; what can you do to protect your bottom line in a time when many businesses are temporarily closed and paychecks | more...

March 6, 2020

FHA Refinance Loans: Are You Ready?

By Bruce Reichstein

Mortgage rates have fallen incredibly low in the earliest weeks of 2020, and many are calling their lenders asking about options to refinance. There are many choices when it’s time to refinance; getting the right FHA refinance loan for you depends on needs and goals for the home. How Long Do You Plan To Own The Home? The basic decision to refinance can often be informed by your goals for the house securing the mortgage. Are you planning to stay in the home long-term? That will affect the type of refinance loan you might investigate as well as the basic nature of the loan as a fixed-rate mortgage or an adjustable-rate loan. Adjustable rate loans are good for borrowers who have a strategy for how to deal with the loan | more...

April 2, 2019

FHA Streamline Refinance Loan Rates

By Joe Wallace

There are lots of online lending websites discussing interest rates for mortgage loans. But what do you need to know about FHA home loan interest rates and refinancing? If you want an FHA Streamline refinance loan, you will be applying for a refi loan that generally requires the transaction to have some tangible benefit to the borrower such as a lower monthly payment or a lower interest rate. When you shop around for lenders offering the best interest rates, remember that one very important factor applies; until you enter into a mortgage rate lock commitment with the lender, today’s interest rates will not apply to your loan. In other words, until you have a commitment in writing for the interest rate, daily and weekly rate fluctuations will apply. The mortgage | more...

December 28, 2018

How To Prepare For A New FHA Mortgage In 2019

By Bruce Reichstein

Want to prepare for an FHA home loan in 2019? There are some important steps to take to get ready for your journey to home ownership. Some are financial, some are credit-related, and some pertain to the rates and terms you will be offered when you are ready to find a lender. Decide On Type Of Property You Want To Buy With An FHA Mortgage Condo loans are different than existing construction mortgage loans for typical suburban homes. This is also true of mobile home loans versus typical suburban homes. For example, a mobile home cannot be manufactured before June 15, 1976 or it cannot be considered for an FHA mortgage. There is no such age restriction on typical suburban houses or similar properties. And those who wish to have | more...

September 24, 2018

Lower Your Monthly Mortgage Payment

By Bruce Reichstein

Do you need to lower your monthly mortgage payment? There are several FHA refinance loan options to help you do that, and depending on your financial needs and goals you may find that an FHA refinance is exactly what you need to get into that lower monthly obligation. Lower Mortgage Payments Before They Begin Some applying for an FHA home loan have the option of not financing certain up front costs such as the FHA Up-Front Mortgage Insurance Premium. Any expense you add to the loan amount potentially increases your monthly payments. One of the best things you can do when looking for a new home loan is to try to avoid adding more funds to the loan amount if you do not need to. For some, it’s already too | more...

April 17, 2018

Streamline Refinance Loan Rules: Is Cash Back Permitted?

By Bruce Reichstein

Do FHA Streamline Refinance Loans permit cash back to the borrower? Can you apply for “more” refinance loan than you need to pay off the original mortgage and take that cash at closing time? The FHA Streamline Refinance loan is for existing FHA mortgages; borrowers who have an FHA loan who want to refinance in order to get a financial benefit such as a lower payment, shorter loan term, or get out of an adjustable rate mortgage should consider this as an option. But is one of the financial benefits offered the ability to get cash back? FHA refinance loan options do include cash-out refinancing, intended for FHA and non-FHA loans alike. Let’s examine what the FHA loan handbook, HUD 4000.1, has to say about cash back to the borrower | more...

April 17, 2018

FHA Streamline Refinance Loans: Tangible Benefits

By Joe Wallace

What are the tangible benefits of an FHA Streamline Refinance Loan? Believe it or not, that phrase is not just a clever way to say “Streamline refinance loans can help you lower your payments.” The phrase “tangible benefits” is found in the FHA loan handbook to describe an outcome of getting the loan. “Tangible benefits” means some distinct help for the FHA Streamline Refinance loan borrower in the form of a lower mortgage rate, a lower monthly payment, the ability to get into a fixed rate mortgage and out of an adjustable rate loan, etc. In most cases an FHA Streamline refi is meant to give the borrower one or more of these benefits. In fact, HUD 4000.1 has specific instructions to the lender on this issue; “The Mortgagee must | more...

March 5, 2018

FHA Streamline Refinance Loan Rules: Credit, Occupancy

By Joe Wallace

FHA Streamline refinance loan rules for credit, occupancy, and more are found in HUD 4000.1, the FHA loan handbook. FHA Streamline refinancing is for borrowers who have existing FHA mortgages and want to apply to refinance into a lower mortgage rate, a lower monthly payment, or into a fixed rate FHA mortgage out of an adjustable rate FHA loan. FHA Streamline Refinance loans have no FHA-required credit check or appraisal. Your participating lender may require one anyway, but you’ll need to discuss those issues with a loan officer. The rules in HUD 4000.1 begin by stating what kinds of property can be refinanced with an FHA Streamline loan. “Streamline Refinances may be used for Principal Residences, HUD-approved Secondary Residences, or non-owner occupied Properties.” The lender is required to verify occupancy | more...

October 17, 2017

How Can I Get Cash Back With An FHA Mortgage?

By Bruce Reichstein

How can I get cash back with an FHA loan? It’s a question many want to know, especially those who might be interested in applying for “more” FHA loan than is needed to complete the transaction. Is getting cash back at closing time possible with an FHA mortgage? The answer depends greatly on the type of transaction you seek. Some loans do not allow any cash back except for refunds, others are designed to offer money to the borrower at closing time depending on the terms of the loan and other factors. FHA New Purchase Home Loans If you are asking the cash back question about FHA forward mortgages (loans used to buy a home on the housing market as opposed to a refinance loan or an FHA reverse mortgage), | more...

August 1, 2017

When Can I Refinance An FHA Loan? FHA Short Refinance

By Joe Wallace

In our last blog post, we discussed when a borrower is permitted to refinance a home loan using an FHA mortgage. But there’s one area not covered by the rules on refinancing with cash out or with no-cash out FHA refinancing. What about borrowers who are underwater on non-FHA mortgages, sitting in what in what is known by mortgage professionals as a “negative equity position”? Is there any help for these home owners? According to HUD 4000.1, the FHA loan handbook, there is a program called the FHA Short Refi, which “allows the Mortgagee to refinance a non FHA-insured Mortgage in which the Borrower is in a negative equity position”. That could be good news for some who badly need to get back on the road to building equity once | more...