Feds To Refinance Mortgages Up To 125 Percent Of Value

Seattle Post Intelligencer

The federal government's Home Affordable Refinance program will serve people whose mortgages are up to 125 percent of the value of their homes, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced Wednesday.

Officials said in June that they were considering the move, which raises the "underwater" limit on the program from 105 percent.

The program, part of the Obama Administration's Making Home Affordable initiative, applies to mortgages owned or guaranteed by government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Some observers have expressed disappointment at the program's reach so far.

Donovan announced the change while touring a neighborhood in Las Vegas, which leads the nation in foreclosures and where approximately 67 percent of the current mortgage holders owe more than their homes are worth.

"I am here in Las Vegas because it is ground zero of the foreclosure crisis," Secretary Donovan said, according to a news release. He said the change "will make a critical difference in our ability to help many more Americans, particularly those here in Nevada, to stay in their homes."...........