This is a program that helps home owners who's property values have declined causing the Loan to Values ratio to go above what lending limits would allow for to be able to refinance.  This program was created for those home owners who had obtained what is considered a conforming loan or the non Sub Prime Loans.  These are loans that are owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac the two main Home Lenders in the market GSE's); this program does not apply to FHA Loans.  If your not sure what type of loan you have or who owns your loan there are several ways to find out; first if you would like, you can always contact me Andrew Hahn president of  Capital Advantage LLC. mortgage lending and I'll be glad to help you and that applies to any questions you may have regarding any mortgage issue.  If you would rather work on this yourself the easiest way to find out is to call your loan servicer or the company you send your payment to.  You can also go to Fannie Mae's website CLICK HERE or Freddie Mac's website CLICK HERE and input your information to check online.   I have found that online you need to get the information exactly as it is on your payment coupon or it might not be accurate, that's why I would suggest calling your servicer.  Now the HARP Program well allow a refinance up to 105% of the current value of your home.  Now here is one of the really good benefits of this program, if your first mortgage at the time you obtained it was at 80% or below you were not required to pay MI (mortgage insurance) so with the new loan even at the higher loan to values your are NOT required to get mortgage insurance THIS IS BIG and for those who do have MI you only pay at the current rate that you pay now.  Mortgage Insurance premiums are/were based on loan to value; so if your loan was 85%  Loan to Value your premium was charged at a lower rate and the premiums adjust in 5% increments, but with that said if you pay MI now, then your used to it in your payment and your saving based on an interest rate reduction would still be a savings because the MI part of the payment would not go up.  For those people that obtained a first and a second mortgage you can still qualify for this program; the first mortgage can go to a Loan to Value of 105% so were good there now what we need to do is contact the company that has the second mortgage and ask them to subordinate to the new first mortgage (to allow the new first mortgage) what we need to do is call the second mortgage and ask  if they well allow this.  In the beginning second mortgage companies were not to keen on this idea but as time has gone on they are becoming more receptive to allowing the new first as it saves you money making your payment more affordable.  As it goes the second mortgage company usually charges a fee to subordinate they're loan; I know USAA does not charge and some companies charge up to $350.00 up front. Again that's why we need to call to find out if they allow the subordination and what are there terms and another factor what is there time frame.  Some lenders can do it in a couple of weeks where some are taking up to 6 to 8 weeks. It's a bit of a workout but if you can reduce your interest rate to today's low rate it is well worth the effort.  Now the amount of savings is a bit more complicated than just saying if you can lower your rate by 1% it's worth doing.  On lower loan amounts say $100,000 or less you might need to reduce your rate by more than 1% in order to have a refinance make sense on the other hand for loan amounts over $250,000 maybe a .5% rate change well be worth it.  I would just say that it costs you nothing to give me a call and have me put together a mortgage analysis to determine what options you have and to be able to know  what makes the best sense for your situation. Andrew Hahn is the President of Capital Advantage LLC. a residential Mortgage lending company located in Commerce City Colorado. Andrew Hahn has over 18 years experience in residential lending. I  have lived and work in Commerce City for over 6 years. My business's website has many helpful pages set up to add a convenience to the Commerce City residence such as LOCAL RESOURCE PAGE just click on the highlighted name and it well take to the page. Andrew has also established a Mortgage blog to help answer questions and to help explain changes to the mortgage process, if you click on the highlighted link it well take you to the mortgage blog Denvermortgagelending.com and if you have any question that you would like to ask please go to the comment section and leave your question and Andrew Hahn well get back with you. For those who live in Commerce City give Andrew Hahn a call. ...read more

If you owe more than your properties value there is a program that well allow you to refinance. It's the HARP program, don't let this opportunity slip away, it's your ticket to today's low interest rates. Andrew Hahnhere President ofCapital Advantage LLC.a Colorado Mortgage Lending Company since 1991. Located inCommerce CityI want to urge all those who obtained aconventional mortgage  18 months ago or older that you may qualify for for the Government HARP Program which stands for HOME AFFORDABLE REFINANCE PROGRAM. this is really one of the best programs out there that helps home owners. As I am a licensed Mortgage Broker in the state of Colorado I provide my services to home owners located in Colorado and the Denver Metro Area. The information I provide regarding HARP includes all, as this is a national program.  First of all this program is aimed at those people that have conventional loans through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Your loan can be an ARM or an interest only loan and you can still refinance to a fixed rate loan; it's a great deal, now is the time to roll out of that loan with the uncertainty of there futures into a loan that can get you through the next 30 years if need be. Now if your not sure if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your loan you can go to their website and input your address and it well tell you if they own your loan; this works most of the time but there are some instances where it doesn't work.  The best and easiest way to find out who owns your loan is to call the loan servicer who has to tell you.  Once you have found this out you now know if this program well work for you.  If you want you can contact meAndrew Hahnand I'll be glad to help.  The best part of this loan is it allows you to take advantage of today's low rates even if your property is worth less than what you owe ( as though as that sounds, I think we all want to keep our homes). Most lenders now when refinancing the first mortgage well go up to 105% some well go up to 125% under certain circumstances. Get ahold of me and I'll help you determine which Loan to Value you qualify for.  Now we are only talking about the first mortgage, remember up to 105%, now if you also have a second mortgage you still qualify for the refinance but if you have a second mortgage they well need to step behind the new mortgage this is called a subordination. At first second mortgage companies were not helping out here but after some time most have come to their senses and are allowing the new first (since it is lowering your total payments what took so long for them to figure this out). Usually the second mortgage is going to want a copy of your loan application, an appraisal and a few other documents so they can make a decision if they well subordinate or not and as the way it goes the generally want some money upfront to process the request. USAA is free and subordinates most of the time. I have seen the fee anywhere from $50.00 to $300.00 (it depends on your lender). And again this is something I can help you with. If you are considering refinancing and live in the Denver Metro area please give me a call and we can set up an appointment so I can go over your options and give you an interest rate quote. FromAndrew HahnatCapital Advantagehave a great day and don't miss this opportunity to take advantage of a good government program that allows you to take advantage of these low rates. Don't wait to long the consensus is is that rates are on the way up. CLICK HEREto go to my secure online application ...read more

I'm Andrew Hahn President ofCapital Advantage Mortgage; I specialize in refinancing and purchasing real estate in Colorado as well as Denver refinancing and in Commerce City and the entire Front Range.  I am a licensed, bonded and Insured Mortgage Broker in the State of Colorado. Although my primary Business in Colorado the information I provide can help all. The program I talk about is designed to help those who owe more on their home than it is worth. If you have a current loan on your homes that is 105% of the value or with some lenders you can go up to 125% of loan to value and want take advantage of today's low rates and have HighLoanToValues (LTV). This program allows you to qualify for the lower rates and does not punish you for credit score as do other loan programs. One of the many benefits of this loan program is that if you do not currently have mortgage insurance you well not need to get mortgage insurance if you go over 80% LTV. DON'T Miss out on today's low rates and don't wait as rates are starting to go up. If you are considering a refinance now is the Time. In order to qualify for this loan it must be a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. Other loan guidelines apply as well. Call me or email me and I'll help you find out if you qualify for this program. When considering a refinance in Denver or anywhere in Colorado for a free mortgage analysis contact me Andrew Hahn for personalized and professional service. I'll be able to go over all your options to obtaining the best mortgage program with the most competitive rates the market has to offer. PleaseCLICK HEREto fill out a secure online application or if you would prefer call me and we can discuss your loan 303-331-8040 Andrew Hahnhas over 18 years in the mortgage industry specializing in Mortgage Refinance in Denver and the State of Colorado a Colorado Mortgage Company ...read more

you might still be able to refi. at today's rates? I'mAndrew Hahna Colorado mortgage broker       located in Commerce City Colorado on the north edge of Denver who specializes inColorado refinancing. Even in this market there are a couple loan programs that could to help you.  First these programs are either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan programs that are designed to replace an existing loan that is already owned by them.  So the first and most important bit of information you need to know is who owns your loan.  The company you make your loan payment to is a servicer not necessarily the entity that owns your loan. The easiest way to find out who owns your loan is to call me and I'll help or call the servicer and ask them if your loan is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, if your loanISowned by one of these agencies your one step closer to being able to take advantage of today's low rates.  If your loan isn't then at this time there is no loan program that allows you to refinance at the Loan to Values that the programs I'm going to talk about do. These programs take into consideration the declines in property Value and let you refinance at up to 125% Loan to value. This means that if your loan is $312,500.00 and NOW because of the declining market you property only well appraise at $250,000.00 you can still refinance your loan at today's rates.  There are interest rate adjustments but rates are still pretty darn good. The best way to figure out if this loan program can save you money is to email me or give me a call and we can run some comparisons to see if this works for you.  This loan program can extremely helpful if you want to change from anARMtype loan or from an interest only loan and replace it with a new 30 fixed rate loan.  This program allows for up to 125% loan to value on the first mortgage. Even if you have a second mortgage you can still refinance with the condition the second mortgage subordinates to the new first mortgage. If you want help to see if you can qualify for these loan programs, contact me and I'll help you. I'll help you find out if your loan is eligible for this program and run loan comparisons to evaluate the benefit's. If you would like you canCLICK HEREand go to my website and fill out a secure loan application and I can start working on it right away. Finally a loan program that helps even if your property value is less than what you owe . Have a great day ...read more

02/24/2009 Take a closer look at youAdjustableRateMortgage; it might not be as bad as they make it sound I think with all the rush/push to refinance out of thatAdjustableRateMortgage in some cases, are alarmist and for people that have ARM loans with either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (not subprime) you need to step back and take a closer look at your loan and consider what your payment is going to do and understand how it works. With these ARM’s it’s more likely that your payment is going to go down. The key here is to know how your ARM works; you need to understand how to figure out what your interest rate is going to be. The interest rate is figured by adding anIndexthis is the variable component of your interest rate and aMarginthis is the fixed component of your rate. You need to know what your index is, the two most popular indexes are either the1-Year LIBOR (London InterBank Offer Rate)or the1 YEAR TREASURY (1yrCMT); this is extremely important because this is the basis of your interest rate. The index is what’s going to determine what your rate is going to be. Today 02/24/2009 the 1 year LIBOR is 2.08 and the 1 yr CMT is 0.64. Here is a great link to use to keep track of your index for the 1 yr LIBORhttp://www.bankrate.com/brm/ratewatch/other-indices.asp and here is the link for the 1 yr CMThttp://www.bankrate.com/brm/ratewatch/1yr-cmt.asp. Now you need to know your Margin this is the amount you add to the index to get what your interest rate will be. Most of margins tend to be between 2.25 and 2.75; again this is for non subprime loans. (The problem with subprime loans is that the margins are extremely high). To find out what your index and your margin are, look in your closing folder and look for the Adjustable Rate Mortgage loan Rider. Now for examples sake we are going to use a margin of 2.75, now if you have the LIBOR as your index you add 2.08 ( YOU NEED TO ROUND TO THE NEAREST .125 ) this would make your interest rate if it adjusted today 4.75% this is not a bad interest by today’s standards at all. Now if your index is the 1 yr CMT at .64 (ROUND TO NEAREST .125) your rate today is 3.5% can’t touch this in today’s market. This presents a compelling argument that ARM loan aren’t that bad at this time. The question here is how long the indices will stay low. For those of you under water in your property this is the good news. All the talk from the new administration about allowing people who owe more than their property is worth is still just that HAPPY CHATTER; we will have to wait to see if they can make it happen. Now for those few who can still qualify for a new loan you need to form a strategy of when to refinance into a fixed rate. You’ll also need to know how often your interest rate can adjust; it’s generally either every 6 or 12 months. What you want to do is enjoy your new rate but watch and lock in a new fixed rate loan when those indices start moving up to a point where your adjusted rate will be higher than what you can fix a rate at. Easier said than done; this is where you have to determine what works best for you. Also ask yourself all those important questions, like how long do you intend to stay in the property, how much are the closing cost going to be, ect… Loan to value and credit score are still extremely important and well affect your interest rate. The sweet spot is still 80% or less, whenever you go over 80% you run into mortgage insurance and this just adds to your payment. There are many factors that affect your interest rate and even your ability to refinance. If I can be of any help in determining what works in your best interest please contact me. Please visit my web site; www.hahnmortgage .com Thank you and I hope this helps Andrew Hahn ...read more

Unfortunately in today’s market there have been a lot of changes made to the lending criteria. One of the biggest problems for borrowers today, are their loan to value (LTV) ratios, where the lending guidelines used to allow people to be able to borrow up to a set loan to value. About 8 months ago you could borrow up to 100% or even up to 125% of the value of your home; now with a few exceptions you can only borrow up to 95% of the value of your home and if the property is considered in a declining market conventional lenders reduce that by another 5% so to a maximum of 90% LTV; (FHA well still loan up to 95% cash out and 97% for a purchase) LTV; combine this with the declining property values and peoples borrowing power is greatly diminished. Three counties in Colorado are considered in declining markets, Adams, Arapahoe and Weld counties and a whole host of zip codes throughout the front range and the state, have also been labeled declining markets. In my opinion when the lending institutions label a market declining and reduce the loan to value they will lend too, that this further suppresses that market. What they should be doing in my opinion is to increase the loan to value limits on the purchase of properties in these areas to provide incentives for buyers. This would help reduce the decline in value and help stabilize these areas. Yes back in the good old days when you applied for a loan it was pretty simple and fast, now the underwriters want to question more need to document more and seems to take longer to make decisions. The lenders have raised the credit score requirements for all loan programs where before if the credit score was 580 it would now need to be 620 and the mortgage insurance companies have also been adding new rules. For example private mortgage insurance well not insure a loan over that is a cash out refinance over 80% LTV with a credit score lower than 620. Although for people who are postured with low loan to values and excellent credit there still are low documentation loans and stated income loans but for most the reality is it’s a lot more cumbersome to get a loan. The most difficult part of this equation is that people who are leveraged over 95% LTV have a more difficult time trying to take advantage of today’s lower rates. Conventional loans well not allow for a Combined Loan To Value (CLTV) to be greater than the 95% or 90% as explained above, if you have a second mortgage that puts you over this limit you probably won’t qualify for the new first mortgage, now FHA does not have this CLTV rule and does allow over 100%, but now the lender that has your second mortgage has a rule that they won’t subordinate to a new first mortgage if they go over 100% or if their loan terms change from when they made the original loan. Some second mortgage holders have made an exception to this rule but it’s not common. If you would like a fair and honest mortgage analysis on your current mortgage condition, please give me a call, I would be glad to help explain how today’s new mortgage guidelines affect you and your ability to improve your mortgage position. ...read more

February the 13 President Bush signed an economic stimulus package that’s going to send tax rebate checks out to most everyone that earns a paycheck as well as disabled veterans and Social Security recipients. The amounts range from $300.00 to $600.00 per person, $1200.00 per couple with an additional $300.00 per child. The full rebate would be limited to individuals earning $75,000 or less and couples with incomes of $150,000 or less, but a partial rebate would go to individuals earning up to $87,000 and couples earning up to $174,000. The caps are higher for people with children. Illegal immigrants are disqualified. This could be good; it’s intended to give the economy a shoot in the arm, some think it might be just a flash in the pan and not really help while adding to our growing economic deficit. Checks should start going out in early May. Some housing relief: This would allow more subprime mortgage holders to refinance into federally insured loans by raising the limit on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans from $362,790 to as high as $729,750 in expensive areas. Increase the availability of mortgages by providing a one-year boost to the cap on loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy, from $417,000 up to $729,750 in high-cost areas. Now this is GREAT news for those people who have jumbo loans between $417,000.00 and $729,750.00 this is going to be the time refinance those loans because this can save them over 1% in their interest rate at face value and with the lower rates in today’s market probably even more and when you make a 1% difference on a loan amount over $417,000.00 it makes great sense. I’m not sure what the high limit is going to be in Colorado or in our area yet they are still working on that calculation. If you would like to get on my interest rate watch list send me an e-mailha101@comceast.netand I will keep you up to date on interest rates. It is important to be ready in today’s market, rates can rise and drop as market conditions change. Case in point, Last month on January 22 at the open rates droppeddrastically. I could have lock in the 30 year fixed rate mortgage at 4.875 % and a 15 year fixed at 4.375% at the open, but with the market conditions these low rates started to change throughout the day by noon the 30 year was up to 5.375% and by the end of the day it was at 5.75%. The drop was caused from international markets suffering major loss’s and the rise was caused from our national market conditions when the Federal Reserve unexpectedly slashed a key interest rate by a bold three-fourths of a percentage, responding in response to the global plunge in stock markets that heightened concerns about a recession. The Fed signaled that further rate cuts were likely. This was the most dramatic move I have ever seen, but it shows that it can happen and it wouldpayoff to be ready so that if it happens again you could be ready. Would anybody be up for a monthly meeting to discuss local happenings? Please send me your questions or comments and let me know what you think about my column. You can always reach me at 303-331-8040 or by e-mail ha101@comcast.net  ...read more

With all the talk about the Fed lowering interest rates; how does that affect you and your mortgage? In short when the Fed lowers their interest rate, it affects the prime rate directly so if you have a HELOC or Home Equity Line Of Credit you can experience a drop in your rate and payment. That’s because most HELOC are tied to the PRIME RATE as well as with your credit cards, so those of you that have HELOCS are enjoying a little relief and the same lowering of your interest rate with your credit cards. And we know any drop in payment is good. Now those of you with ARM loans, these loans utilize a different index to figure out what your interest rate is going to be. First you need to know what your index is. OK it’s time to dig out that folder full of those closing documents. Look through them and find the NOTE, this is the document that will tell you what your index is and what your margin is. Most of these loans use either the 1 year CMT (This index is an average yield on United States Treasury securities adjusted to a constant maturity of 1 year) or the LIBOR (LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. It's the rate of interest at which banks offer to lend money to one another in the wholesale money markets in London.) Now you need to go on line to www.moneycafe.com/library and look down and click on your index to find out what the current rate of your index is, then you add your margin to the index. This will tell you what your new interest rate is going to be. Usually your rate can only go up a maximum of 2% on the first adjustment and 1% generally every six month until you hit your cap. Sort of complicated, the easier way is to call me and I can help you. Now some good news is, is that the index’s are starting to come down. So this means that depending on which index is used and what your margin is your interest rate might not keep going up and could even start to come down. Again this all depends on your particular loan terms. Most of the sub-prime loans had a bigger margin than a standard conforming loan, meaning that those loans can go up quite a bit before they might level off. If you would like me to help you figure out your rate just give me a call or e-mail me. Well so far this year the real estate market seems to be hanging in there but the prediction is that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. For those of you with good loan to values this could be a great time to make that move to a fixed rate mortgage. For those of you who are looking to buy it’s a great time. The combination of really low rates and the exceptional deals on houses make it a perfect time to jump into home ownership. Send me your questions or a topic you would like me address. ha101@comcast.net ...read more

For all of you new home buyers this is a great time. There are many great loan programs to help you purchase a home, combined with it being a buyer’s market, why wait? There are really a lot of options regarding 100% and near 100% purchase programs. FHA has great programs for 97% financing and allows for several types of options for the remainder of the down payment. You can use seller paid points, gift funds and /or government and approved non-profit (Commerce City has a housing assistance program) agencies may provide secondary financing for Borrower’s entire cash investment. HUD also has a new program in order to help sell their foreclosure properties that only need a $100.00 down payment. The FHA $100 HUD Repo program is a purchase-money loan offered in limited geographic areas to purchasers of a home owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Buyers are only required to make a $100 down payment and may be eligible for sales incentives provided by HUD. To look at these homes use this link click on the county you want and click on search; http://hud2.towerauction.net/e7/gen_list/county_pages/CO.htm . If you have any problems or need a little help don’t hesitate to call me. There are also options with conventional financing (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) that allow for 100% and some loan programs that allow for 105% to help cover closing costs. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also have loan programs that are geared for eligible borrowers who are employed full-time as educators, public safety workers (police or fire), or health care workers (there are some restrictions) and the military. These programs have benefits such as lower mortgage insurance. With all of these programs the borrowers must fully qualify, although they do work with some challenging credit scores. We can go as low as 575 credit score but you really need to be able to fit in some strict guidelines in order to qualify. So what are you waiting for let’s get you qualified to buy your new home. Some other great but little used program are rehab. loans, you go out you find a home you really like but it’s a train wreck and you don’t have the money to fix it up after you buy it. There are Renovation programs that allow borrowers to combine the purchase or refinance of a home with the costs to renovate or extensively remodel the property. At closing all funds for renovation will be escrowed in an interest earning account. Soft costs such as architectural services, engineering and permit fees may be financed. These loans do take a little more time and require a contractor to do the work. These are some interesting and challenging times we are in right now but there is a lot of opportunity out there. If I can help you take advantage of any of these opportunities please feel free to call me. I have been a resident of Commerce City for almost 4 years now and I see a bright future here. I want to do what I can to help you take advantage of the opportunities that can help you be a part of that future. Remember if you have any questions or have a topic you would like me to address just call or e-mail me. ...read more

There are many factors that have created this mortgage meltdown. What created this crisis is back in 2003, when mortgage interest rates were on the way down to all time lows, Mortgage Lenders created loan products and relaxed credit standards to allow a lot people to qualify for 100% purchases and refinances. These programs opened the doors for a lot of people to qualify and in some cases with the use of Stated Income, No Income Verification and other hybrid type ARM loan programs in combination with reduced credit score requirements for these types of loans, we need to use the word qualify loosely. A portion of these loans are referred to as Sub Prime Loans; generally tied to poor credit (lower credit score) and or high leverage lending programs. Most of these loans have a fixed interest rate for 2 or 3 years with a prepayment penalty of generally 6 months interest, making it prohibitive to refinance prior to the end of the prepayment period. Well in 2005 we started going into an interest rate rising environment; with these particular loans, they are susceptible to rather high adjustments after the fixed period causing the mortgage payments to jump significantly, this in combination with declining property values in the real estate markets, has left these people with virtually no options to refinance, now unable to maintain the higher payments, they lose the property to foreclosure, thus causing the foreclosure rate to increase. This in turn has created a spiral of decreasing property values. This credit crunch has also caused mortgage underwriting standards to become stricter, requiring higher credit scores with lower loan to values. People that had qualified during the relaxed guidelines from the previous years are now unable to qualify with the now more strict guidelines. People that had purchased or refinanced properties at 100% can’t qualify for a refinance because now they owe more than 100% on their property caused by the declining real estate values. This now starts to affect the whole market in many ways; people who want or need to sell their houses are now competing against foreclosure properties and with builder inventories, although we are now working through the large builder inventories there are still a lot of foreclosure properties that continue to further drive resale prices down. The consensus is that this is probably going to get worse before it gets better. There is a refinance opportunity to home owners who have recently experienced a rate reset that caused your mortgage payment to be late. Eligibility Requirements • If you have a non-FHA ARM that has adjusted and you are currently in default on but not in foreclosure. • A history of 6months of on time mortgage payments before the loan reset • All owners must be owner occupants • Sufficient income to make the new mortgage payment • Value must be supported. Call Me with any questions you have Andrew Hahn 303-331-8040 ...read more