I was wondering what changes you think could be made to help second-time homeowners. This next question comes from Jill Fitzpatrick, from Louisiana, and she's from a part of the country where home values have bounced 20 percent off the bottom. But there's no doubt that somebody like Michelle and I, who bought our house several years ago, that if we went out to the market right now, we'd end up saving some money. When you're President, you have to be a little careful about these transactions, so we haven't refinanced. Well, not to get too personal, but our home back in Chicago-not the White House, which, as I said, that's a rental-our home back in Chicago, my mortgage interest rate, I would probably benefit from refinancing right now. To keep the long-term perspective, mortgage rates have ticked up about a point, but we're still in the low fours, which, if you take the long view, is still an incredibly low rate for a mortgage.
And you're referring to HARP 3, which we have a lot of questions about, so we're certainly going to discuss that. It can end up being the equivalent of a $3,000 tax cut, basically, money in your pocket or, alternatively, as Andrew was talking about, it gives homeowners an opportunity to start building back some of the equity in the home that they lost during the great recession. That should continue to help the housing market.īut given that interest rates tick up a little bit as the economy improves, it is especially important for Congress to act on the proposal that we put forward, which says let's not just let a few people refinance, let's allow everybody who is potentially eligible to go ahead and refinance. So what we've heard from the Federal Reserve Chairman is that he thinks it's important for interest rates to remain relatively low so long as unemployment remains high.
And the real economy is directly related to the housing market. There are still a lot of folks who are out of work. And there's been reporting just this week, some of the data has come in showing that you're still seeing some good, steady growth.īut I think that all of us recognize that it is still a soft housing market, in part because it's still a soft employment market. So far at least, though, the housing market has continued to be fairly robust. And it saves people a lot of money, up to $3,000. We've also seen a lot of refinancing activity, in part because we modified some administrative rules so that folks who had Government guarantees could refinance even if they were underwater. And as you said, Spencer, what we've seen is healing pretty much across the country when it comes to the housing market. With the help of the Federal Reserve, interest rates came down. It's what all of us understand when we say we want to have some middle class security.Īnd so what we did over the first 3½, 4 years of my administration was throw everything that we could at helping homeowners who had seen their houses go underwater to slowly build back that equity. Homeownership is the quintessential element of the American Dream.
What we saw in terms of the plunge in home prices in the midst of the great recession was something we hadn't seen in a very long time. A lot of people have been watching the interest rates and watching what are happening with home values. Well, it's a great question, and obviously, particularly in States like Florida, where, when the housing bubble burst, it was very painful. I was actually fortunate enough to refinance at historically low rates earlier this year, but I am still well in excess of 30 percent negative on my mortgage, and I'm wondering how these interest rates are going to affect the future value of my home. My name is Andrew Houston in Gainesville, Florida, and I was wondering how you feel rising interest rates over the last 3 months are going to affect the housing recovery going forward. President, our first question comes from Andrew Houston in Gainesville, Florida. I'm honored to welcome President Barack Obama. Today we'll pose some of these questions-your questions-to the President. And we've received thousands of questions over the last couple of days via social media. Still, there are concerns about the future.
The housing market has come a long way in the last year, and we're all very happy to see most local markets bouncing back after the housing recession, with many homeowners free from negative equity and sellers enjoying a competitive environment. Zillow is honored to host this unprecedented event and connect homeowners, renters, and prospective buyers with President Obama, who's ready to answer your housing questions.
Welcome, and thank you for joining us today.