President Obama announced his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan today. The plan is designed to help up to 7-9 million families avoid foreclosure. This large task will be accomplished by restructuring or refinancing their mortgages. The plan not only helps responsible homeowners that are behind on their payments or at risk of losing their homes, but prevents neighborhoods and communities from being pulled down too, as defaults and foreclosures contribute to falling home values, failing local businesses, and lost jobs.

The key factors to the plan are:

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1. Refinancing for Up to 4 to 5 Million Responsible Homeowners to Make Their Mortgages More Affordable
2. A $75 Billion Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach Up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners
3. Supporting Low Mortgage Rates By Strengthening Confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

If you would like to know more about the proposal you can read what the Government has to say at the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Fact.

Will Congress agree and put the plan into action? Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. In the mean time if you'd like any information about Real Estate in Bellingham or Whatcom County or any info about Bellingham Home's or Condo's you can give me a call at 360-739-6981 or drop me a line by email.

Labels: Fannie Mae, Foreclosure, Freddie Mac, Mortgage

How would you like to save 7 1/2 years of mortgage payments from your thirty-year fixed mortgage. That means you can pay off your home in 22 1/2 years instead of 30.

It is easier than you think. All you have to do is make one extra payment per year.

One very easy way to do this is to make bi-weekly payments. Some banks and credit unions will set up bi-weekly payment systems for you.

When I had my loan with the Whatcom Educational Credit Union, they were very obliging and set me up so that payments would automatically be made every other week.

Here is an example with round numbers.

If you you are making monthly payments of $1000 per month, that means you make 12 payments per year or pay $12,000 per year. If you pay bi-weekly you make 26 payments of $500 each. At the end of the year you've paid $13,000 instead of $12,000.

At this rate you can literally cut 7 1/2 years off your mortgage and save many thousands of dollars.

This is a great system for somebody with a steady paycheck, that way is easy to allocate the correct amount of money every two weeks. If your income isn't as steady just try to make that one extra payment a year toward principal and you'll save a ton of money. Most people aren't disciplined enough to do this on their own, so she can get set up with your lender to do it automatically it's like a forced saving plan.

If you don't have the disciplined to do this yourself and your lender won't do it for you, there are companies that call themselves mortgage acceleration companies that will do this for you. They will charge an up front fee of anywhere from $150 to $500 and $3 to $6 charge with every payment.

If you have any questions or want to see any Bellingham Property feel free to email me at or give me a call at 360-739-6981.

Labels: Mortgage