In what could be good news fro some homeowners in Maricopa Arizona and beyond, the attached article from DSNews.com outlines how Fannie Mae is no longer going to remove the “borrower ability to pay clause” from it’s HARP program. Fannie cited that this was too vague of a requirement and that underwriters would be left to interperet in different ways.

This new program, expected to be rolled out in FEB or early MARCH, will allow homeowners to refinance their “underwater” mortgages” with few restrictions. They must be a Fannie or Freddie loan and the homeowner must be current in their payments. One late payment is allowed but it cannot be in the past 6 months.

It remains to be seen if this will be just another governmt program gone bad due to the beuracracy involved. However, if it actually is successful, it may offer some reflief for homeowners who wish to stay in their homes but are having trouble making their payments. I “ran the numbers” on one homeowner I know and their savings project to be in the area of $600/month.

Obviously this is not going to address the problem of the home value being upside down but at least it may offer enough relief to allow a homeowner the option of staying in their home.

http://bit.ly/tpFZC5