HARP on it to make your home more affordable

HARP is the acronym for a government program (they love acronyms) for the Obama Administration's Home Affordable Refinance Program. The program is addressed to the "homeowner who is current on [her] mortgage payments but unable to refinance to a lower interest rate because [her]home value has decreased..."

Eligibility for HARP is determined by answering yes to four questions-
1. Are you the owner of a one- to four-unit home?
2. Do you have a loan owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac?
3. Are you current on your mortgage payments?
4. Do you believe that the amount you owe on your first mortgage is about the same or less than the current value of your house?

If you can answer yes to all four questions, then you may be eligible for the program. The next hurdle is the appraisal because loans are limited to a maximum amount of 105% of the appraisal value. Eligibility and qualification are different things.

The HARP website says:

The Home Affordable Refinance Program gives up to 4 to 5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac an opportunity to re-finance into more affordable monthly payments. The Home Affordable Modification Program commits $75 billion to keep up to 3 to 4 million Americans in their homes by preventing avoidable foreclosures.

We hope that HARP lives up to its promise.

Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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How Democrats Make Millionaires

I love an eye-grabbing headline and today's The Wall Street Journal Online does not disappoint with "How Democrats Make Millionaires, According to tax proposals, lots of us are 'rich.'"

With the stock market down, kissing "goodbye to the bonus you were hoping to use to pay junior's college tuition" and worrying about there being a pink slip in your future, the advice is:

"Cheer up. Even in these hard economic times, Democrats across the nation are working on plans that will turn some of you into instant millionaires.

There's only one catch. You're not actually going to be bringing in a million-dollar income. But the tax man is going to treat you just as though you did."

How does this happen? In New York, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver coerced Governor David Paterson to impose a "millionaire's tax" on folks making $300,000 per year. New Jersey is the granddaddy of them all.

"In 2004, then Gov. Jim McGreevey became the first Democrat to get through a millionaires' tax whose reach extended to nonmillionaires. The McGreevey
"millionaires' tax" kicked in at $500,000. He justified it, moreover, by saying that any money collected would go toward funding property tax relief for the state's beleaguered homeowners.

"Five years later, we can see how that's turning out. Not only is Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine targeting property tax relief for many Garden State citizens, he wants to impose a "temporary" surcharge on the existing McGreevey millionaires' tax. "

Democrat Washington state legislators are floating the idea of a millionaire's income tax that would kick in at $500,000.

"And why not? So long as Democrats are willing to rewrite the tax code, almost anyone can wake up one day to find himself a millionaire."

Read the full column, How Democrats Make Millionaires.

For your next title order, try

Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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New Mortgage Plan Has Folks Buzzing

From Realty Times-- Washington Report: Mortgage Reform Bill by Kenneth R. Harney

"A massive new mortgage reform bill has Washington real estate and banking groups buzzing, both critically and in favor.

The bill was introduced last week by House financial services committee chairman Barney Frank -- who's arguably the most influential legislator on housing issues on Capitol Hill.

Supporters say the 151-page bill would have gone a long way to preventing mortgage lending excesses during the housing boom, especially no-documentation, negative amortization and zero downpayment deals, had it been federal law before the boom started in 2002 or 2003."

Here's how the bill would be different: First, lenders would be discouraged from making anything but "plain vanilla" 30-year fixed rate mortgages with full documentation and strict underwriting. Second, it would require lenders that originate other types of loans to retain at least a five percent ownership stake in the loan for its full term, even if it gets sold in the secondary mortgage bond market. Third, if the loan ultimately went bad, the originator would own a piece of the loss -- unlike today's system, where they can sell them and forget them.

Not everyone is ecstatic about the new program. Read the full story here.

For your next title order, try

Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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The Wizard of Id comments on the bailout

Editorial cartoonists are known for their, well, editorial comments. Today it reached the Sunday comics in the Wizard of Id with this take on the bailout:

Call Vested Title with your next title order.

Whether a multi-property commercial transaction or a single-family refinance, we do it all.

Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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An A.I.G. Exec Quits in Public on Pages of New York Times

The New York Times has published an Op-ed written by Jake DeSantis. It's actually his letter of resignation submitted to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G. Mr. DeSantis is or was an 11 year employee of the company and an executive vice president of A.I.G.'s financial products unit.

Not having been personally involved in the unit that brought A.I.G. to its knees, DeSantis expresses a sense of betrayal by the company and Liddy after they suddenly reversed themselves on employment contracts and retention payments negotiated last year.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

Read the full Op-ed, Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

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