Yep, not even my beloved USAA can save us from this one. Apparently we’re TOO under water to refinance. Since when is $60k in the negative TOO much? ;) haha…ah well, it was worth a shot.
But what’s really frustrating, if you’ll allow me to say so, is the fact that there are, indeed, people who can/will be able to refi because they made some huge boo-boos.
That’s great for them, and certainly for our economy in general, but what about the others who behaved and played by the rules? Shouldn’t WE be granted some help as well considering we also took it up the a$$? This affects more than the people who helped us get in this mess to begin with. (emphasis on *helped* here as we all know there were many other factors stirring the pot.)
The Mrs. and I aren’t perfect little badgers, but we should still be granted some sort of equal rights. We pay our mortgage on time, we didn’t get too over our heads, and we were responsible. Shouldn’t that count for something? Are we being greedy here? Whatever….I’ll go ahead and stop now. I’m sure everyone’s tired of hearing about this stuff. I just had to get it out since it’s directly affecting us now.
I’m just hoping Mr. Obama has something good up his sleeves…
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I am a "new" anonymous here…one who is in the exact same position as J and am so angry I can't see straight. NorCallRN got it right. Other anonymous…you are crazy off mark!!!! My husband and I bought a house we CAN afford 2 1/2 years ago and make our payments on time every month. (We were, by the way, qualified for literally 3 times the amount of a mortgage we took and could NEVER have afforded those payments…even a simple excel sheet could tell us that.) Because we only had 5% to put down, our plan was to pay off the 2nd mortgage in 5 years to ensure we had the proper amount of equity. (Our lack of down payment was a major factor in the amount we felt we were capable of purchasing a home for.) We have been diligently paying down the 2nd mortgage and based on our purchase price would easily be at 10% equity to be eligible for refinancing. Enter the morons who bought homes they can't afford – 2 homes on our street have sold on a short sale. This has crushed our home value. And while, again, we bought a home we can afford, and have no plans of moving anytime soon so know the values will stabilize and we will be fine, we are irate at the thought that the morons who made stupid decisions are getting to refinance (and short sell) while we are told "sorry, you simply don't have enough equity…bu-bye!!!"…"but before you go, we would like to inform you that the government has demanded you pay more in taxes this year to finance the morons who have screwed up the market in the first place who are going to be refinancing on your dime." The point is, I could live with the decrease in value and the short sells down the street and everything else if I weren't told the ONLY reason that I can't refinance is because I own a house I can afford and pay my bills as promised. This era of no responsibility and no accountability and handouts and redistribution of wealth has got to stop!!!!! (And before any of you mention the government programs, no, our loan is not owned or guaranteed by Fannie or Freddie so we are not eligible.)
It is frustrating, isn't it? Since writing this post I've come to terms with it and now just understand it is what it is and I just gotta deal ;)
Those who are financially responsible will overcome all nonsense out there and will be much better off even when it seems like we're not. The more we save and pay off debt, the more options we'll continue to have and one day we'll be able to relax and live as we please! It's gonna be great :)
Here's to real estate turning around in the near future!
Sorry to hear about your situation. But don’t give up. Contact a HUD counselor and ask to have the file reviewed. That is if you believe the lender or loan servicer missed something very material. Go over your paperwork again. It’s worth the effort.
Thanks. Unfortunately it’s really just the economy screwing us (and others) over… I know it’ll get better eventually though, so for now we stay patient! :)
Wanted to mention to people there is some hope for people who are seriously underwater in their homes. There is such a thing as a refinance with NO appraisal. That means it doesn’t matter how upside down you are. This is strictly for those in FHA mortgages, however. FHA offers an “FHA Streamline” program to refinance current debt to lower rates. It’s not based on the appraisal, but the loan amount only. It isn’t designed for people who made mistakes, in fact, you have to be current and have no lates.
Like I said, it’s only for people in who are CURRENTLY IN FHA loans. If you’re not sure whether or not you’re in an FHA loan, you can see it on your credit report or on your original closing documents.
Yeah, I literally JUST heard about this thing! Freakin’ AWESOME!!! I have to call in to get more details as I don’t believe we have an FHA loan, but def. worth the time. Thanks for sharing this with us :) I plan on posting up my findings shortly…
Check out a HARP refinance. Any mortgage broker can do it, so call a few and compare. Being underwater is allowed for this refinance. We refi’d an underwater rental last year with no problem.
Thanks! We actually JUST re-financed last month – was freakin’ great :)
Here’s my post on it if interested: We Refinanced Our Mortgage!