HARP: Government Assisted Refinancing Program for Virginia

(VIRGINIA) – There has never been a better time to refinance your home. That’s because of a little-known government program called the Home Affordable Refinance Plan (HARP). This allows Americans to refinance their homes at shockingly low rates, and reduce their payments by as much as $4,905 a year.

But here’s the catch – like most government programs, this is likely temporary. But the good news is, once you’re in, you’re in. If the thought of a lower payment, fewer years on your mortgage, and even taking some cash equity out of the deal is appealing, the time to act is right now.

A true middle-class stimulus package

This is unknown to many, but the Home Affordable Program is for the middle class. If your mortgage is $625,000 or less, you most likely qualify. Basically, the Government wants banks to cut your rates, which puts more money in your pocket (which is good for the economy). However, the banks aren’t too happy about this – here’s why:

1. You can shop several lenders, not just your current mortgage holder
2. Your home’s Loan-to-value (LTV) can be 80% to 125%

You think banks like the above? Rest assured, they do not. They’d rather keep you at the higher rate you financed at years ago. That’s why the pressure is on time-wise. The Middle Class seems to miss out on everything (did you ride the last stock bubble? Probably not). Thus, it’s almost a no-brainer to jump on this now. You should act fast in order to refinance your house at these near historic low refinance rates. If your mortgage rate is currently higher than 3.11%, you can greatly benefit:

• The average monthly savings is $250. Can you use an extra $250 a month?
• Many homeowners not only save every month, but depending on their current rates, they can also shorten their term.
• Get cash now – because the rates are so low, besides the benefits above, many homeowners also opt to take a little cash equity for home improvements, a vacation, or a nice boost to the savings account.

Here is an example of how much can be saved:

Here’s an example of what can be saved by a rate of 3.25% and 6.75% (which is around what many homeowners have when they got loans years ago):

So this means over the life of your mortgage, you could save more than $150,000. That’s just by lowering your “already good” rate of 6.75% to an even lower 3.25%.

This is why it’s a no-brainer – you will likely lower your payment, possibly shorten your term, AND also get cash. There’s zero downside. This is how powerful that little word called “interest” is.The middle class never sees “breaks” like this. So this is your chance to get “in”.