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Can I Refinance My Mortgage If My Home Is Underwater or Upside Down?
November 9th, 2008
When the Real Estate bubble burst many homeowners particularly in parts of the country like California and Florida saw their property values plummet. If you were one of these homeowners you may have gone from having as much as $50,000 in equity to being under water.
The burning question for homeowners who find themselves in this situation is “Can I refinance when I owe more on my existing mortgage than my home is currently worth?” Here are several tips to help you answer this question for yourself.
When you are upside down or underwater with your mortgage loan as the terms suggest, you owe more than your home is worth. Some lenders will tell you that you’re underwater even if you have not had a recent appraisal of your home’s value based solely on the geographic location of your property.
If the last appraisal of your home valued the property at $350,000 but your lender is telling you it’s now worth $260,000 you can still easily refinance if your mortgage is less than $200,000. The problem comes when you owe more than the property is worth, meaning you have “negative equity” in your home.
The straight answer to the question of refinancing when you’re underwater is no; however, there may be other options available to you. This may not be the answer you want to hear and for this I apologize but it is important to know your options when you are upside down in your mortgage loan. 100% mortgage loans are no longer available in today’s marketplace so unless you have the cash on hand to pay your mortgage down below the value of your home refinancing is not going to be an option.
If you don’t have the cash on hand there are ways to get it. Hard money lenders are one such method. A “hard money lender” is a private investor lending money to homeowners who are either upside down in their homes or are facing foreclosure. You have to be careful when dealing with private investors and observe the rule of “buyers beware” as there may be very little regulation of hard money lenders in your State.
You can learn more about your mortgage refinancing options, including costly mistakes to avoid by registering for the free mortgage videos available on this website.
Mortgage Refinancing
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