I am now officially upside down on my home

[EPThorn]

I live in El Paso, and bought my home for 175K in fall '04 at 30 years at 6.4%. In spring '06 i got an appraisal increase to 195K, i fought it and won (kept at 177K).
Last week i got a new appraisal at 164K. I still owe 165K.

With rates so low,I would like to refinance at 15 years.
If i had not fought the appraisal in 06 i couldve refinanced no problem.However, now owing more than the homes worth wont let me.

I guess i just have to grin and bear it.
Could i fight my appraisal to keep it at 177K?

What other options do i have?

 

[NickDanger]

Lenders aren't going to rely real heavily on tax appraisals. They are notoriously haphazard. So are "real" appraisals, but at least the lenders won't get criticized for using a licensed appraiser.

Fighting to keep your tax appraisal high is just sheer madness. Seriously.

 

[DoobieWah]

Agreed. Everyone understands that tax appraisals don't come close to reflecting true value.

While it's a good indicator that home values are falling in your area, (and everywhere else, I might add), don't take it too seriously until you get a real appraisal.

 

[TexasEd]

Don't use tax appraisal for home refinance.

 

[gdavis]

You want a low tax appraisal unless you like paying more in taxes. As mentioned previously, your bank will not care about the tax appraisal outside of its impact on your escrow, in which case they will probably use what you paid in taxes the previous year anyway.

 

[halsteadfrost]

Why don't you just pay off the mortgage like it's a 15year, paying twice what you should per month? Is this not allowed?

 

[Ignatius]

It depends on the terms of your mortgage; most will allow you to define amounts above your payment as principal, but some will force them to be applied toward future payments...

 

[pasotex]

Did you put 5% down?

 

[Sangre Naranjada]

In reply to:

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[WhoseHouse]

Look into the HARP program. I just refinanced under that program and they don't care about credit score or loan to value. I didn't even have to get an appraisal at all. The only requirement is that you've made on-time payments for the past twelve months and that your current loan is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Go to this website to figure out if you're eligible: The Link

 

[JohnnyM]

What kind of rates can you get on a HARP program re-fi right now? Do they have any IO options? I think we could probably go from IO to fully amortized if we did it and pay the same, but just wondering on the options and can't really find many details online.

 

[WhoseHouse]

I got 5% plus a 1/8 point credit through HARP on a 30 year fixed rate. They also offered 4.875 with 3/4 of a point or something like that. We didn't really discuss anything other than the 30 yr fixed rate so I'm not sure what types of loans are available. It seems like a really fast, easy, reduced paperwork type thing. I talked to a couple lenders who didn't even know what it was... my current lender (Wells Fargo) contacted me about it, so I know they're doing HARP refinances. Not sure who else.