Posted on: 21st Nov, 2008 11:09 am
My wife and I purchased a land/new home package in 2007. It was one of those deals where you paint and landscape on your own and get some fast equity. As I was self employed we ended up getting a stated income loan that ended up being 7.25% during the construction period, with a no fee's/points float down available at the conversion point of the loan from a construction loan to 30yr fixed. The home got finished in April this year, and a few days from closing the conversion at 6.125%, we got a notice of lien from the electrical supply company. The electrician had been paid by our builder, but didn't pay his supply house for the components. This balled up our closing very badly, we had to hunt down and repeatedly bother the electrician to pay this bill. During this time the school district laid off 4 teachers from each high school, including my wife. It was totally unforeseen due to state budget cuts. We finally got the lien removed and went to get our float down "sorry nobody wants these stated loans anymore", and after arguing we ended up getting assigned to countrywide at a 6.875% rate. We now can't re-fi because of my wifes job loss. We are currently doing ok on our payments, I sold my business after hurting my back and got a management job, but the payment is about 75% of my take home income. I have some savings and have some time, but once the wifes unemployment runs out we'll be eating up our savings every month until she finds a job.
Recently I built a 1000sq/ft shop garage behind the home, and got an appraisal from a realtor for $330-$339K market value. That's more than $100K in equity.
So my ??"s are:
Would I be allowed for a rate adjustment by countrywide?
Can I sue the electrician for losses?
We were at 87% LTV ratio before I built the shop, now it's 71%. Can I get out of the PMI at least?
If things continue as is we are going to sell and downsize. We can't afford to do ANYTHING except work and pay bills. We can take a capitol gains exemption on the proceeds due to the wifes job loss, but on my income along we will be very close to being priced out of the home market here.
Opinions/Recomendations would be appreciated.
Recently I built a 1000sq/ft shop garage behind the home, and got an appraisal from a realtor for $330-$339K market value. That's more than $100K in equity.
So my ??"s are:
Would I be allowed for a rate adjustment by countrywide?
Can I sue the electrician for losses?
We were at 87% LTV ratio before I built the shop, now it's 71%. Can I get out of the PMI at least?
If things continue as is we are going to sell and downsize. We can't afford to do ANYTHING except work and pay bills. We can take a capitol gains exemption on the proceeds due to the wifes job loss, but on my income along we will be very close to being priced out of the home market here.
Opinions/Recomendations would be appreciated.
hi rkcarguy!
in order to do a rate adjustment, you will have to refinance the mortgage. if you can afford to refinance, you can go for it. however, you should remember that for refinance, you will have to pay the closing costs and the lender will also do a credit check. as far as the electrician is concerned, you can definitely sue him.
as far as i know, you should have 20% equity in the house in order to cancel your pmi. moreover in order to cancel the pmi, your loan has to be 2 years old. again there is a new law which states that loans generated in 2007 with a pmi will get some tax deductions. this means that you will get certain tax deductions on premiums you pay on pmi. you can even speak to the lender about this. to know more about this, check out the following link:
http://www.mortgagefit.com/insurance/premiums-taxdeductible.html
thanks.
in order to do a rate adjustment, you will have to refinance the mortgage. if you can afford to refinance, you can go for it. however, you should remember that for refinance, you will have to pay the closing costs and the lender will also do a credit check. as far as the electrician is concerned, you can definitely sue him.
as far as i know, you should have 20% equity in the house in order to cancel your pmi. moreover in order to cancel the pmi, your loan has to be 2 years old. again there is a new law which states that loans generated in 2007 with a pmi will get some tax deductions. this means that you will get certain tax deductions on premiums you pay on pmi. you can even speak to the lender about this. to know more about this, check out the following link:
http://www.mortgagefit.com/insurance/premiums-taxdeductible.html
thanks.