patrick.net

SFace says

RentingForHalfTheCost says

If someone called me offering 4.125% I'd just hang up. They are just being mean

to me. It would take you no time at all hunting around for a 3.25% or even

lower.

It was a mortgage taken in 2006-2007 @ 6.6%, and likely underwater. 4.125% is a great offer under the circumstance. If you are too dumb to accept that, it is the idiot tax.

Yes, that could be the real reason why the person doesn't accept the offer. They know they are underwater and in the end will not be able to refi anyway. Still, anyone cold calling me with 4.125% gets the dial tone pretty quickly. The difference 0.75% can make on ones 30 years of payments is atrocious. You are talking 10's of thousands. Makes no sense to me why people don't freak out more. I don't see 4.125% ever being a great deal in today's free money market. Especially now since we know we are either flat or already in a recession.

I qualified for HARP. They dropped my loan from 4.75 to 3.5% - total cost to me is $500. And the kicker is that I'm nowhere near underwater, have excellent credit, etc.

They count me as a success for their program, even though I could get a regular loan for the same amount. It would cost more for me, so it's win-win.

I thought HARP was designed to help underwater homeowners, but apparently it was created for me personally.

Believe it or not, there are many situations where even at 2% some Refis wont be cheaper. I bought at 4.50%, but at the time the MIP was only a flat $70 a month, until I get 20% equity in the house. If I were to refi today at even 2%, the new MIP is more than triple that $70 bucks that I am paying. Also going forward the MIP is to be paid for the life of the loan, there are also some other monthly FHA fees now that didn't have when I bought.