This past week President Obama held his state of the union address and proposed a refinance plan that could help homeowners save $3000 a year on their mortgage by being able to refinance their upside down home regardless if their mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and eligible for the HARP 2.0 program, and I feel it’s my duty to interpret that plan for you. Well just hold those applause because he didn’t actually share the details of this refinance program other than saying that a small fee will be placed on the banks to pay for the plan. And we all know when he says “banks” he means “you”. Because let’s face it, anytime banks have to pay a fee, theyre going to pass that fee along to you in the way of higher rates and higher fees. Now personally, I don’t think this plan is going to work. For one thing it would have to go through a republican controlled senate, who are notorious for resisting government intervention in the housing market. And while his staff is predicting this program can help 2-3 million homeowners,that just sounds an awful lot like the FHA short-refi program they rolled out in 2010 that was estimated to help 1.5 million people, but as of 3 months ago only 195 people got loan approval for that program. So it looks like it’s back to the old drawing board Mr. President!

Think you’re having a hard time selling your house? Try selling a starship. A guy in London is such a huge Star Trek fan that he spent 10 years and $150k converting his small apartment into the starship voyager after his wife left him in 1994. This guy went all out. He even trekked up the bathroom so he could stay in character while I guess launching his photon torpedoes. Well she actually owns the place and after finding it hard to get a buyer from this planet. She’s been awarded the right to dismantle the place so it can sell, and it looks like resistance is futile. Live long and prosper bro!

Take a look at this week’s interest rates back under 4% and with 1 out of every 5 California mortgage brokers giving up their license in the last year, or allowing them to expire (it seems like even more here in San Jose), aren’t you glad that you have a friend in the mortgage business you can feel comfortable introducing your friends and family to when they are thinking about buying or refinancing a home? Please share this video with them and let me know what you think by clicking the like button and leaving a comment below. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you next time.