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Hot off the press from NAR

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment.

Previously, most buyers wouldn’t receive the funds until after they filed their tax return, and that deterred some people from using the credit. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® has been calling for the change.

“We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a down payment,” Donovan says. His remarks came in an address to several thousand REALTORS® gathered Tuesday morning at “The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy,” at the 2009 REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington, D.C..

He says FHA’s approved lenders will be permitted to “monetize” the tax credit through short-term bridge loans. This will allow eligible home buyers to access the funds immediately at the closing table.

• $8,000 fast cash for first-time homebuyers (money.cnn.com)
• FHA plans to allow use of tax credit for down payments (seattlepi.com)
• $8K Tax Credit CAN Be Used As FHA Downpayment (hsh.com)
• 8-Point Overview of the $8,000 First-Time Homebuyer Credit (realtyresolve.com)

Tags: FHA, First time home buyer, First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit

On March 4, 2009, the US Treasury announced the Making Home Affordable Program, which includes its Home Affordable Refinance Program, commonly known as HARP.

HARP is designed to help borrowers whose loans are held by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac refinance into a more affordable mortgage. You may be eligible if:

• You are the owner-occupant of a one-to-four unit home,
• The loan on your property is owned or securitized by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac
• You are current on your mortgage payments (if you are not current you may be eligible for the Home Affordable Modification program)
• You believe that the amount you owe on your first mortgage is about the same or slightly less than the current value of your house,
• You have income sufficient to support the new mortgage payments, and
• The refinance improves the long term affordability or stability of your loan.

To determine if your loan is owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you can contact them directly at:

Fannie Mae
1-800-7FANNIE (8am to 8pm EST)
www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup

Freddie Mac
1-800-FREDDIE (8am to 8pm EST)
www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage

What are you waiting for?

Read this from the Wall Street Journal:

Mortgage Rates Continue Falling to Record Lows: 
For the fourth consecutive week, mortgage rates have fallen to all-time lows. The 30-year mortgage rates averaged 5.01 percent this week, which is a drop from last week’s 5.1 percent. Last year at this time, rates averaged 5.87 percent.

“Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell for the 10th week … due in part to the Federal Reserve’s recent purchases of mortgage-backed securities issued by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae,” says Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft.

Other rates also dropped for the week:

15-year fixed rates: dropped to 4.62 percent from 4.83 percent last week. Last year at this time 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.43 percent.

5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.49 percent, a drop from 5.57 percent last week.
The only slight increase in rates this week was in 1-year ARMs, which were 4.95 percent, up from 4.85 percent last week. Overall, 1-year ARMs were still down for the year from last year’s 5.37 percent.

Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.