Have an FHA loan? Do you know about FHA Streamline Refinances? December 10, 2007
Posted by Patti Shawgo in First Time Home Buyers, Interesting Stuff, Mortgage Stuff.trackback
One of the really great benefits of having an FHA loan is that you can streamline refinance. In this day and age streamline anything is hard to come by in the mortgage industry.
What exactly makes it streamline? well, if you are not cashing out and refinancing to reduce your rate, no new appraisal is needed! Very, very little other documentation is needed as well and the fees involved are minimal. You can apply and close within 2 weeks time as long as the title company can complete what they need to do in that short time.
Right now FHA interest rates are lower than conventional rates! You can get an FHA loan with 0 points for 6%!! So, if you have an FHA loan, the rate is higher than 6.5%, and you are planning on staying in your home for at least 2-3 more years, you should looking into streamlining (with me) today!
With all the upheaval in the mortgage industry right now, lenders and consumers need to look to alternative sources for financing options. FHA is emerging as the premier source of choice for those consumers that fell into the sub-prime trap. FHA Secure and other FHA loan programs have stepped up to fill the gap, but more needs to be done. I’d like to see more loan officers and brokers offering FHA as an alternative – which they may be forced to do with the elimination of all those sub-prime programs! Any “fix” the government comes up with will have to include FHA
[...] because I was looking back at past posts, and almost exactly a year ago today I was writing about FHA Streamline refinances. At that time, rates were at 6% with 0 points and now they’re even lower, as low as [...]