Obama Touts ‘Burst of Refinancing’ Because of Housing Plan
EmailABC News’ Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:
President Obama claimed at an afternoon town hall in Los Angeles that there has been a "burst of refinancing" — a sign of progress for the administration’s housing plan.
California ranks third-highest in mortgages that are seriously delinquent –- so Obama used his afternoon town hall to address the very people who, he believes, should be able to get help soon.
"Our plan included important steps to help lower interest rates," Obama said of his housing plan. "And today, millions of Americans — people who never thought they’d be able to lower their monthly payments — are now able to take advantage of these rates, which are the lowest that they have been in decades. Already, we’re seeing a burst of refinancing."
The president said refinancing applications jumped 30 percent last week, doubling the rate of last fall, which would save “the average homeowner hundreds of dollars a month — the equivalent of a generous tax cut.”
Obama touted the launch of a new Web site, makinghomeaffordable.gov, to help borrowers determine whether they’re eligible for the housing plan, and to help them calculate how much money the plan could save them on their monthly mortgage payments.
He urged people who haven’t filled out their taxes yet and are considering buying a new home to claim an $8,000 tax credit in the recovery plan for first-time home buyers.
“The idea here is very simple: If you buy a home this year, you should be able to get your tax credit this year," Obama said. "That’s when you need it most.”
The president added that California would be receiving $145 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide additional help to communities hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis.
“These funds will be used to buy up and rehabilitate vacant and foreclosed homes and resell those homes with affordable mortgages — and to provide mortgage assistance and rehabilitation loans for low-income and middle-income families.”
The money for the program was a mix of funding that predates the stimulus plus some stimulus funds, White House aides said.
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With mortgage cramdowns in the future and a mortgage bailout in the works, it will be interesting to see the latest mortgage terms and fees.
Posted by: mad | March 19, 2009, 9:05 pm 9:05 pm
While I appreciate the money savings from being able to refinance to a rate under 5% (costs will be paid back in only 12 months, and my original mortgage was already a pretty good fixed rate), I’m not sure how much good that does the economy. More heartening for me is that out of an office of about 24 people, three of them are closing on houses and 2 are shopping.
Even if it tends to be buying up foreclosures, I’m seeing a lot of responsible people regaining confidence in the real estate market and thrilled to get a house.
Posted by: jhw539 | March 19, 2009, 9:11 pm 9:11 pm
mad:”it will be interesting to see the latest mortgage terms and fees.”
From my NY-based credit union, the mortgage terms I got three weeks ago (I was waiting for 5% to lock – gotta sign a check tomorrow) are identical to the ones I got when I bought my house in 2005. The fees are the same too, which actually makes me think they must have a lot of profit fat built in to not change them in 3 years!
Posted by: jhw539 | March 19, 2009, 9:15 pm 9:15 pm
Thanks for that info, jhw.
Posted by: mad | March 19, 2009, 9:47 pm 9:47 pm
Could it be that many responsible homeowners are refinancing to take advantage of record low rates?
And pretty slick how he conflates low mortgage interest rates (for which he implies his “plan” is responsible) with a “generous tax cut.” The president’s taxpayer funded housing plan is actually a tax cut. Fabulous!
Posted by: Kyda Sylvester | March 19, 2009, 10:36 pm 10:36 pm
People with good jobs and credit will be able to refinance just like they have been able to do for the last 5 years. Why does he keep taking credit were not deserved?
Posted by: William | March 19, 2009, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
Willaim this can answer your question:
“Our plan included important steps to help lower interest rates,”
Posted by: david | March 20, 2009, 1:47 am 1:47 am
What is it with the governments power to selectivly ‘gift’ a generous tax cut to a group of people…..$8000? when you buy a house this year?….To a group of people that must already have a great credit rating…..which means they must not be hurting….
Thats just one more unfair thing the rest of us have to swallow….
Or passing a law approving bonuses….then punishing people for following that law by an outragous tax…just to save their political butts….
This targeting of taxes to suit their needs on a few…is totally unfair…
The dictatorship has arrived….see how easy it was to fool you?
Posted by: J Moore | March 20, 2009, 2:28 am 2:28 am
This $8000 tax cut for buying a home…could’nt this be a wonderful way for speculators to clean up?
Someone that is ‘fixed’ financialy could buy a few of these bottom dollar homes on the market…get their $8000 tax cut…then resell the homes….
Is there language in this to prevent that scenerio?
Or is this another underthought out great idea?
Posted by: J Moore | March 20, 2009, 2:45 am 2:45 am
Lets hope these people are taking a fixed rate and not an ARM that will rise on them, and once again they will claim they didn’t know it could go up and they can’t afford payments.
Posted by: jb | March 20, 2009, 8:42 am 8:42 am
Remember when Bush and the Republicans did nothing during Katrina?
This President with the help of Democrats, Obamcans and Independent supporters are doing something on the mess Bush left us all.
11 trillion dollars looks like legacy Bush and his supporters left us. This includes the bailout. Did any one count the billions it with take to care for the over 90,000 USA war wounded costs into the future?
No wonder the Republicans in Washington only have a 28 percent approval rating (Pew)
Posted by: Frank | March 20, 2009, 12:54 pm 12:54 pm
Good info. Thanks for sharing this info article.
Posted by: Home Loan Refinance | August 3, 2009, 2:21 am 2:21 am