[Laneco]

We had an unpleasant experience....thought I'd share...

Called up our mortgage guy, Brian, who says we would be able to do a 4.85% (he's very familiar with us - done our last couple of loans) with very little out of pocket. But there's a big catch...

For the home value they now look at foreclosures and short sells. That was not the case in the past. It is now. So if you, like us, have a couple of neighbors who went belly up and short-sold their houses, then THOSE will be the comparables as absolutely nothing else in our neighborhood is selling.

Needless to say, when comparing the price on a short-sell, we come out badly. The 25% equity that we had two years ago is well under zero when compared to the neighboring short-sells.

If you are in an area where houses are still selling, then you'll be able to refinance but if you are in our area, you are hosed unless you have so much equity that you are still 80% of the current short-sell figures...

dang.

angela