Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate > Mortgages
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 01-22-2015, 01:31 PM
 
7 posts, read 5,638 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

Hello from a small-town in South Carolina.

In 2013, I was fortunate enough to find myself eligible for a State of South Carolina mortgage assistance grant ("SC HELP"); I qualifying as an "underemployed" self-employed homeowner with very good credit who had missed two payments after exhausting all my savings, and had received the bad news that my 1099 employer of the previous 15 years was no longer going to be contracting out the service I provided.

The program's grant covered my 900$ monthly payment for two years on the original 30yr, 6.125%/95k balance note held in-house by SunTrust for my home bought in 2006 for 125k.

Fast forward to today. In June, my grant will run out, and I am anxiously anticipating going for a re-fi out of the six-and-a-quarter percent note above. Could you guru's on this forum provide me any hints or "recommends" for refinancing? Here are some of the particulars of my situation to consider:

Home prices in this small town did not have the wild swings of other areas, and any decline in the current value of the home due to lower priced comps in the neighborhood (due to two foreclosure sales last year) should be negligible (I bought the house as a Fannie Mae foreclosure in 2006 at about 20k under value)

I am 60, and anticipate this will be my home 'till my wife and I go out feet first. We have no debt of any kind, and thanks to the mortgage assistance program, about 8k once again in savings. I use a "rewards" cc (and pay it off monthly) that provides a real FICO score currently of 732. Business has improved, but not wildly so - our 2014 Federal will show income of only approx 28k, and 2015 may be no better. After 2018, our combined Soc Sec will guarantee a base income of approx 24k, plus my 1099 earnings. Still, that's livable given our lifestyle.

So....old people <g>, modest income, modest house, decent credit. Yes, I will give my existing mortgage holder SunTrust first crack but am open to all thoughts. Thanks.

Last edited by CatticusRex; 01-22-2015 at 01:35 PM.. Reason: spelling
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-22-2015, 05:57 PM
 
Location: MID ATLANTIC
8,670 posts, read 22,856,196 times
Reputation: 10490
I say this without any inflection in any direction, just going to spit it out. One of the key factors in a refinance is looking at your payment history and ability to make payments. And we know that will be absent in your case. But can you demonstrate the ability to save an approximate mortgage payment each month? Be prepared to show at least one years bank statements.

Did the grant put a silent second trust on your home? Most do, so I don't think it will be easy to hide receipt of the grant. But if it's not up front and obvious, you may be able to refinance without it coming up. Doubt it, but possible.

As for shopping for the best loan, you very well may only have SunTrust to consider. Your loan, grant or not, is considered a troubled loan. Fact is, other lenders are not going to line up to relieve SunTrust of their mortgage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-23-2015, 08:18 AM
 
7 posts, read 5,638 times
Reputation: 11
Thank you for your reply, SmartMoney.

As far as payment history, the two missed mortgage payments in 2012 on the mortgage opened in 2005, are the only occasions of our having <30 day late payments on any creditor's account in an otherwise perfect credit record (800+) of many years.

It is not my intention to attempt to hide the fact I received the mortgage assistance grant. And, yes, there will continue to be a rider on the mortgage that should we sell the home before June of 2017 (five years from the first date of the assistance payments) the amount of the payments (approx 24k) we would then be obligated to repay SC HELP. I have no intention of selling.

As to demonstrating "ability to pay", we have indeed been placing monies that would have been mortgage payments into savings for the past year; bank records will reflect this.

I am more concerned over a lender "floor" on income requirements...that lenders today are biased even more so than previously against self-employed borrowers, and cannot comprehend someone who can make ends meet without debt and actually live pretty well on -worst case- less than 30k a year.

Last edited by CatticusRex; 01-23-2015 at 08:24 AM.. Reason: spelling
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-23-2015, 09:11 PM
 
Location: MID ATLANTIC
8,670 posts, read 22,856,196 times
Reputation: 10490
SunTrust is the only party that has an interest in refinancing your loan, and the most likely they will receive additional tax credits if they refinance the note. But the law now states the lender must prove the borrower can make the payments and the payments cannot exceed a certain percentage of your income. So, if your income is $2500 per month, the maximum for total debt is $1125, including your mortgage payment. The exception to the qualification rule are those holding the loan that needs to be refinanced.

So, where I am heading is, SunTrust may very well be your only choice for refinancing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-24-2015, 10:06 AM
 
7 posts, read 5,638 times
Reputation: 11
Hello again. Well, all the dust has settled, and we have a 3.8% fixed 30 year re-fi.

Smart Money: SunTrust was not our only option, we shopped one other national lender and our credit union, and all three swiftly gave us GFE's with rates within .125 of each other. No problem with any of the lenders with that the subordinating state grant since it requires no payments and is slated to be totally forgiven three years hence.

We did go with Suntrust after all simply because they had a small advantage in the closing costs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate > Mortgages

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:30 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top