#housing

When is a government fee not really a fee? When it is a tax in disguise! This is exactly what the two government-sponsored mortgage agencies were going to put into effect beginning September 1^st. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were going to charge homeowners a ½ of 1% fee to refinance their homes because they want to make up for losses due to foreclosures and non-payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. This so-called fee was not going to be applied to new home financings, but solely to re-financings. This became too controversial for the politicians, especially in an election year, that they have decided to delay the fee until December 1, 2020. How coincidental that the delay in the new tax was postponed until after the election. Welcome to the land of fees and taxes.

We are telling people to re-finance now, if appropriate before your taxes (we mean fees) go up.