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Now that the real estate market is showing signs of upward movement, some people will be thinking about upgrading. A lot of folks sucked it up during the downturn and now they want a bigger home for their kids, a better location for a shorter commute, or a smaller property to keep maintenance down.

Before you sell, your home probably could use some improvements to garner as much buying interest. The dilemma is: How much more cash are you willing to tie up in your home? Imagine plopping down $10,000 to remodel a bathroom and nobody ends up buying the place for your asking price? You don’t want to be house rich but cash poor.

With this in mind, you might consider taking out a HELOC or doing a cash out refinance instead to release some equity in order to make home improvements or fix necessary things such as a leaky roof.

Whilst this in itself is not a bad idea, it pays to consider all options and consider if releasing equity will damage the prospects of re-mortgaging for your new property.

Is equity finance your only option? Read More

It’s still difficult to afford a home despite low interest rates and a recovering economic environment due stiff lending standards by banks. Add on the fact that many home values have still not fully recovered from pre-crisis levels, and it’s easy to see why help is needed. Owners of these homes usually cannot qualify for traditional refinancing. The HARP ( Home Affordable Refinance Program) was introduced to allow these owners to refinance their homes after the housing market collapsed in 2006-2007.

HARP Qualifications

1) The mortgage firstly must be owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. If the mortgage was not sold to either Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae before 31st May 2009, it won’t qualify for refinancing.

2) The loan to value ratio at the time of refinancing must be above eighty percent.

3) The homeowner must show him or herself to be a responsible homeowner by making timely payments at least in the past twelve months prior to refinancing.

4) The mortgage cannot be refinanced under HARP twice unless the first refinancing came between March 2009 and May 2009 under Fannie Mae. Read More