from strings attached, it seems like the gov. is

doing massive business. From borrrow's point of view, he can keep living in the house but his future property appreciated is limited or even capped (similar selling a covered call for stocks). It does not seem to help lender too much either since it requires lender to write down another 10% relative to current market price. The Gov. itself seems like the most beneficial one in this massive business. Gov. claims to rescue people while it tries to make money. The most beneficial ones might be the new buyers who are those gov. "helped" neighbors. I am sure there will be a lot of frauds in this messy practice.



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What does it cost?
There should be little up-front costs for borrowers to bear. Loan origination fees will vary by lender, but these can usually be paid by the borrower over the life of the loan in the form of a slightly higher interest rate.

However, the refinanced loans do come with many strings. For one thing, borrowers are responsible for paying an insurance premium to the FHA guaranteeing the loan, which will be 1.5% of the principal annually.

Borrowers also agree to share any profits from future home-price appreciation with the FHA. To do that, they'll pay a "3% exit fee" of the mortgage principal to the FHA when they resell or refinance.

Plus, they'll agree to pay the FHA 100% of any profits they realize from higher home prices if they sell or refinance within a year. So if the original loan principal is $200,000 and the home sells for $250,000, the borrower will owe the FHA $50,000, minus costs.

After a year, borrowers will share 90% of the profits with the FHA. The percentage keeps dropping in 10% increments to 50% after the fifth year, where it stays.