FHA Streamline Refi or Conventional? Also, is this lender being straight with me?

[Anonymous]

I purchased my home 2 years ago with an FHA 203(k) loan. 

Purchase price    128k

Appraisal             148k

Original Loan       157k

Current balance   152k

Paying PMI til       98k, 15 years away

Rate                       5.125%

I just went to the township board of appeals for my assessment and got it brought down from their opinion that my house is worth 215k to 183k. My research led me to believe that my house might appraise for 199k. Zillow thinks 237k.

My plan, until this afternoon, was to try to refinance with my credit union into a conventional 20 or 30 year mortgage, even if I have to pay PMI. I am working on getting my house appraisal-ready to that end. They will do a conventional loan with up to 95% LTV, and their current 30 year rate is 3.625%. They also can apparently do a FHA refinance.

I just got a call from my current lender, which is another CU, and spoke with a loan officer. He is working up numbers and getting back to me, but he says that if I do a FHA streamline refinance that I cannot get an appraisal. I would have to pay PMI, but they would update the house value to 148k instead of the 128k they're currently using to determine when I'm at 78% LTV. Rate is 3.25% for 20 / 25 / 30 year mortgages, maybe 3.5% if I have the lender pay closing costs.

So.

 1) Is there an FHA non-streamline where I could do an appraisal? $148k seems low to me for my house.

2) FHA refi doesn't let you roll in closing costs, right? I could come up with cash for most of them. Maybe not the whole escrow. If I got someone to "give" me the difference and sign that it was a gift not a loan, would that be kosher?

3) Is it maybe a good idea to just get the house appraised with one lender and then decide between the two? FHA Streamline with current lender if the appraisal from the other eliminates the possibility of going conventional? I only need the house to appraise for about $165k by my calculations to go conventional.

4) Is the UFMIP I paid 2 years ago applied towards any UFMIP for this loan?

[Anonymous]

Bump bump bump!

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Seriously? Someone has to have SOME opinion or info.

[Anonymous]

I did a streamline refi on an FHA loan, I was able to roll the closing costs into the new loan and I still received a small refund check.  If I would have paid out of pocket it would have been about $1500-2000 for closing.  An appriasal/credit check was not needed; I only needed to provide last year's taxes and current paystubs for income verification.  I'm not certain why they'd lower the value of the house, that was never brought up in my refi. I would honestly get a second opinion on the best opions from another CU or Bank.  The rates arent based on credit-worthiness only the current rates anyway so it couldnt hurt talking to a bank.That's my 2 cents.

[demi]

Similar to Wenbev, I judt did a FHA streamline, and it was so easy, 3.5%, no apprasil.  Really, really easy.

[DallasLoanGuy]

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 1) Is there an FHA non-streamline where I could do an appraisal? $148k seems low to me for my house.  yes. fha regular refi.

2) FHA refi doesn't let you roll in closing costs, right? yes they do.  I could come up with cash for most of them. Maybe not the whole escrow. If I got someone to "give" me the difference and sign that it was a gift not a loan, would that be kosher? only kosher if they give it to you. it is 'mortgage fraud'(a federal crime) if they 'give' it to you.

3) Is it maybe a good idea to just get the house appraised with one lender and then decide between the two? FHA Streamline with current lender if the appraisal from the other eliminates the possibility of going conventional? I only need the house to appraise for about $165k by my calculations to go conventional.  one lender should be able to give you all options. ask your realtor you run comps for you

4) Is the UFMIP I paid 2 years ago applied towards any UFMIP for this loan?  you get a discount

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[Anonymous]

My realtor ran comps for me...based on them (plus my previous, low appraisal), I got the township to bring down the taxable value of my house such that, in their opinion, it's worth $183k. By my estimates, it seemed like $199k was possibly reasonable. Actually, 2 houses within a block of me just went up for sale and were sold with multiple offers within a week of going on the market - which is a sharp contrast to the prevous 2 that were similar distances away and took a year or more to sell.

The loan officer from my current mortgage holder, the one I talked to last Friday, had promised to get back to me Monday with some worked-up numbers. I got an email from a colleague of his on Wednesday saying he'd referred me to her, and she hasn't yet gotten to the point of giving me good info, except she said she thought that conventional was probably what she would suggest and she wanted to know if I was interested in 20, 25, or 30 year terms.

I'm only entertaining the current lender because they called and for a moment, I was doubting my plan to try for conventional with my credit union's mortgage lender.  It really is ridiculous that my current lender would say stuff that is not right and doesn't even SOUND right.

Thanks so much for weighing in.

Just to make sure - is it true that even if my appraisal comes back lower than necessary to go conventional, my credit union (who does do FHA) should be able to use that appraisal to do an FHA refi? Whether or not I owe more than the appraisal? I would be shocked if that happened, but given that my original appraisal came in dozens of thousands of dollars below what I, my loan officer, and my realtor were all expecting, I want to be prepared for the worst!

[webhopper]

I did a streamline refinance with FHA... I'm more than willing to share the name of my lender if you want a recommendation. She was very professional and would answer my questions within hours.

Streamline was super easy.. If you do a streamline, then your purchase price stays the same, there is no appraisal. It resets the clock on paying MIP though, that's the only negative...

It can actually lower your MIP payment because you do get a discount

Streamline refinance is easy to do, you don't have to income qualify or appraise the house or anything...

With streamline, you CAN roll in some costs as long as you aren't doing a cash out refi... Also the lender can give you a credit in exchange for accepting a higher interest rate.

My property was a rental house, so I wasn't allowed to do cash out, or increase the principle in any way.  The lender credit helped me get closed with no issues.

I had to have like 2400 out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

One of the big reasons I want to refi is so that I can stop paying PMI, or at least get out of it sooner. If they use my purchase price, I'm in the same spot I'm in now, but my APR is lower.

Because I have a 203(k) FHA loan, which is the rehab version, my purchase price is low compared to my loan and my appraisal. Instead of paying PMI on a $157k loan until I get to 78% LTV of $157k (original loan) or 78% LTV of $148k (appraisal), I am paying PMI until I get to 78% LTV of my purchase price, which is $128k. That's when my balance is at $99k. Seriously, PMI until 15 years into my loan.

I really would rather refi WITH an appraisal, even though an appraisal is a pain in the behind. My income has gone up, I have no problem qualifying with my credit score or my income. My only worry is if the appraisal comes in below the amount that I need for a conventional loan (with or without PMI). I just want to make sure I can still do an FHA refi with an appraisal between 148k and 165k.