Underwater Mortgage Refinance

Unfortunately, as said, if you're underwater you are out of luck right now unless they change the HARP rules.

Have you made any improvements on the home that could increase the value? Have you checked recent sale prices in the area to confirm you are underwater?

The reason I ask: a couple months ago I contacted a mortgage broker about refinancing my home. They said we were at 95% equity and a refinance wasn't worthwhile for us.

3 weeks ago I was goofing off at work and browsed Zillow.com, found 2 homes on my street that recently in the last 2 weeks. One was smaller than mine, the other larger, both for way over what the banks said my home was worth.

We went to our local credit union and initiated a refinance with a full appraisal. The appraiser pulled those two comps along with another, and estimated our value at almost 15% higher than what the statistical appraisal came in at just a month or so before.

So, we are bringing a couple thousand to close and refinancing the whole thing at 80%, 3.25% 30 year fixed.

In other words, if HARP doesn't change, keep an eye on the homes selling in the area, it could swing a large amount with just a few weeks (and hopefully for the positive).