Mortgage Refinance Information

Cape Cod Mortgage Refinance

Today there are many loan programs available for refinancing your existing mortgage. Since there are many reasons that a homeowner may choose to refinance, we’ll take a look at the four most common:

• Mortgage Rate Drop
• Lower Payments
• New Mortgage Program
• Debt Consolidation

If you choose the option to refinance to lower your monthly payments, you may also have the opportunity to make additional changes to your loan at the same time.

Talk with your Cape Cod lender about what you would like to accomplish and see what refinance program option is best for your.

Four Reasons To Refinance Your Cape Cod Home

1. Mortgage Rate Drop:

Typically, the most common reason that homeowners refinance their mortgage is to secure a lower interest rate. Interest rate and loan amount determines the total cost that a borrower will pay.

The lower the interest rate, the less the overall cost will be. Interest is calculated on a daily basis and usually paid back to the lender on a monthly basis.

2. Lower Payments:

Lowering a mortgage payment can be achieved by lowering the mortgage rates, lengthening the loan term, combining two or more loans or removing mortgage insurance.

3. New Mortgage Program:

Refinancing an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) to a new Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM), combining a first and second mortgage or paying off a balloon loan are three possible reasons to explore a refinance.

4. Debt Consolidation:

If there is a sufficient amount of equity, sometimes paying off the consumer debt by combining all debts into one lower monthly mortgage payment can significantly reduce the short-term deficits in a budget. However, it’s important to keep in mind the total cost of that debt by adding it into a 30 year mortgage payment.

Today there are many mortgage loan programs that offer a loans for refinancing your current existing mortgage, such as:

• FHA
• USDA
• HARP
• VA IRRRL
• Reverse

Even though they all offer the option to refinance, they do however have different guidelines and eligibility requirements as well as their own unique advantages. Below are the list of mortgage programs that currently offer a refinance option for homeowners in Cape Cod.

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The Cape Cod FHA Streamline Refinance Eligibility Requirements:

• Mortgage needs to already be FHA insured.
• Pre-existing mortgage must be up to date and current.
• Refinance must lower monthly principal and interest payments or be converting from an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) to a fixed-rate mortgage.
• Cash-back is not an option for a streamline refinance.

The Streamline Refinance (Federal Housing Administration) FHA mortgaga was designed to help save time and resources by not requiring as much paperwork as other refinance programs. One way that this is possible is by offering a non-credit qualifying streamline loan, which eliminates the need for new credit checks and job verification and will be ok with just usung your currnet mortgage as a way to qualify a borrower.

Other eligibility requirements also include:

– Having at least six months pass since the first due date of the existing mortgage.
– A minimum of 210 days must have passed since the closing date of the existing mortgage.

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Basic Requirements for a USDA Loan Refinance in Cape Cod:

• Mortgage to be refinanced must already be a USDA loan.
• There must be a financial benefit resulting from the refinance.
• Borrower must be current on the present mortgage payments.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) created a streamline refinance option with intentions to assist the many thousands of rural homeowners who have been left in a rough financial situation after the collapse of the housing market and who currently have loans insured by the USDA.

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Eligibility Requirements for HARP 2.0 in Cape Cod

1. Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns or has guaranteed first loan.
2. Fannie or Freddie purchased the loan prior to May 31, 2009.
3. Borrowers must be current with mortgage payments.
4. Borrowers owe more than their home is worth, or there is minimal equity.
5. All mortgage payments have been prompt in the past 6 months.
6. No sixty (60) day late payments in the last 12 months.

The Home Affordable Refinance Program was amended in October of 2011 through an agreement between the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, which simplified the accessibility of the program for many borrowers looking to refinance through mortgage lenders. The main goal of HARP (Obama Administration) is to assist responsible homeowners with the process of streamline refinancing. Most eligible borrowers who are current on their mortgage payments but have lost value on their homes are given this option to refinance.

The Obama Administration also announced a set proposal for a HARP 3.0 that would qualify even more borrowers by revising their already set guidelines.

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Cape Cod VA Streamline Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL) Eligibility Requirements:

• Lower interest rate and mortgage payment.
• No out-of-pocket expenses.
• You Do Not have to use your current lender.
• You Do Not have to get a new Certificate of Eligibility.
• No cash-out allowed, only a reduction of interest rate.
• Primary residence OK, as long as you certify that you previously owned the property.

The VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance is a popular refinance option for eligible VA borrowers due to the sdtreamlined qualification process, limited out-of-pocket closing costs, and reduced paperwork. The VA IRRRL Streamline was created to help lower the interest rates of homeowners with existing VA mortgage loans.

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Basic Eligibility Requirements For a Reverse (HECM) Loan in Cape Cod:

• Lower you interest rates.
• Increase the amount of monies you are currently receiving.
• Eliminate a conventional mortgage payment.

When you refinance from a conventional mortgage to a reverse mortgage you can eliminate your monthly payment. A reverse mortgage allows you to use the equity in your home for any purpose you see fit. The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is a type of Reverse Mortgage that is offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Refinance option of Reverse Mortgage allows for homeowners to convert their equity in their home to a large lumpsum payment or a montly income or a line of credit.

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There you have it, a list of the Common Refinance Programs available today! With the different unique purposes that they were created to serve, they all have one thing in common..and that is in helping homowners lower their current monthly mortgage payments.