Can you refinance your inherited property without mortgage?

By S. Smith - http://www.mortgagefit.com/refinance.html

Have you inherited a house from your grand parents? I’m sure there are many people who have inherited property from their family members or from their close relatives. Sometimes this property is shared among the siblings or an individual is the sole owner of the property. There are many people who want to refinance their inherited property but they are not sure whether they can do it. You can apply for a loan on the inherited property but here a few things that you should know. Continue reading “Can you refinance your inherited property without mortgage?”

Home Lending Revamp Planned

BY NICK TIMIRAOS

Federal regulators on Monday unveiled a major overhaul of an underused mortgage-refinance program designed to help millions of Americans whose home values have tumbled.

The plan is the latest White House effort to deal with one of the most critical impediments to economic recovery—a stagnant housing market caused in part by a surfeit of homeowners who are unable to refinance. Continue reading “Home Lending Revamp Planned”

Obama administration ramps up mortgage refinancing effort

From McClatchy News Service

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, worried that the housing crisis is strangling the economic recovery, is stepping up efforts to aid the battered market as another wave of home foreclosures threatens to drive values down further and rattle consumer confidence again.

But the administration’s piecemeal approach — giving temporary reprieves to the jobless, converting empty homes into rental properties, allowing more people to refinance mortgages — isn’t going to help much, said industry leaders and even some lawmakers in the president’s own party. Continue reading “Obama administration ramps up mortgage refinancing effort”

Mortgage rates at all-time lows, but few qualify

Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, October 7, 2011

Steven Senne / AP
A home with a for sale sign in front, in Newton, Mass. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.94 percent this week, the lowest rate ever. For those who can qualify, it’s an extraordinary opportunity to buy or refinance.

Mortgage rates hit historic lows on Thursday, falling below 4 percent for the first time since Freddie Mac started keeping track in 1971.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed was 3.94 percent for the week ended Thursday, it said. The average 15-year rate was 3.26 percent.

The bad news is that only a small pool of borrowers can qualify to take advantage of those cheap mortgages – and many of them have already done so during the past months of falling rates.

“It’s certainly a historic and psychological barrier to go below 4 percent,” said Guy Cecala of Inside Mortgage Finance. “But I don’t think it will have a huge impact because people are not buying homes for other reasons than the interest rate. We tend to be refinancing the same group of qualified borrowers, not really opening up the market to other people.”

Mitchell Chernock, president of Sky Valley Financial, a mortgage broker in Benicia, put it more bluntly. Continue reading “Mortgage rates at all-time lows, but few qualify”