O Jumbo, O Jumbo Mortgage, Where for art thou? Jumbo Mortgage Loans in Current Mortgage Landscape A couple of years ago you could get a jumbo mortgage loan at a competitive rate no matter what size or ’shape’ your mortgage came in. If you were buying a $1 million property and could only put 5% or 10% down, no problem, there was a loan for you. Wanted a $5 million mortgage on a $10 million house? – done. Fixed rate, Adjustable rate, Balloon, Interest Only, even Negative Amortization loans were available into the millions of dollars for most property types. The wisdom of these loan programs may [...] Continue Reading…

Jumbo mortgages are loans used to buy homes that are expensive enough to require exceptionally large mortgages. Each year, the government determines the minimum mortgage amount that defines “jumbo,” and home buyers requiring loans beyond that level can wind up paying higher mortgage rates.Conventional loans meet certain underwriting guidelines to ensure that they’ll be easy to resell by Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, by investors. But huge home loans, that exceed a certain amount, fall outside those guidelines and are defined as “jumbo.” Each year, the government sets the upper limit for conventional loans, which is based on prevailing housing market prices. (Right now, the [...] Continue Reading…

The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, respectively, subsidize the real estate mortgage market by buying mortgage loans originated by banks and other lenders. However, these government sponsored entities (GSEs) are subject to maximum loan amounts (e.g., $417, 000 for a single-family home). Loans up to these limits are considered conforming loans. “Any loan over that amount is considered either a jumbo or a super-jumbo loan,” explains Steve Litten, president of Home Security Mortgage in Fredericksburg, Virginia. However, conventional loans can be either conforming or non-conforming loans (jumbo and super jumbo loans). [...] Continue Reading…

During the real estate boom in the early 2000’s home buyers were getting approved for mortgage loans without having to put money down on the loan. It seems like a great idea, right? You get into a brand new home and it costs you absolutely nothing and in some cases you might even get money. Builders were having incredible sales and giving incredible incentives to all new home buyers. Then the housing crisis hit and lenders quickly began to change lending practices.Even with a strong credit report the no money down option is not the best choice any new home shopper. The reason is that after a few months [...] Continue Reading…

As far as the jumbo mortgages are concerned, people take this for buying bigger homes. Most of the people are short of money during the real estate deal. Therefore they want to take the mortgage. If you want to take the heavy loan then the jumbo loans are right for you. However the super jumbo offer comes at the cost of the higher interest rates. If you will talk about this scheme then you will find out that you are paying the higher interest rates as compared to the others. This is certainly a very important thing and you will have to keep this in your mind.Many people believe [...] Continue Reading…

Buying a home is a huge undertaking and the thing that holds a lot of people back from making home ownership a reality is the big down payment. Many conventional loan programs require that an individual puts down at least ten to 15 percent of the purchase price on the loan to buy it. This doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but if you were to buy a $250,000 home, which isn’t excessive by any means, you would be looking at coming up with at least $25,000! Most of us don’t just have $25,000 lying around to be spent because if we did we would [...] Continue Reading…

FHA loans are pretty unique in that they permit a homebuyer to use a relative to help them qualify for a home even if that relative will never live in the home. They are in effect a non-occupant co-borrower. The normal conventional loan is more stringent on this type of qualification which is why it works well for FHA loan financing.The relative who will not occupy the property is primarily assisting the owner-occupying relative qualify with income, not their credit score or history. All borrowers will need to qualify on credit.As a result there is a lot of popularity in FHA loans. The amount has increased by 300-hundred percent [...] Continue Reading…

Many experts in the real estate industry predicted the credit crunch to have eased by now but that is not the case. Good borrowers with excellent credit payment histories are being turned down due to rising foreclosures from borrowers who cannot afford their mortgage payment. Some of the keys to getting approved is the loan guidelines have become more strict and underwriters are eyeing loan applications with more scrutiny. The borrower never gets to speak with the underwriter and probably never will. So, the approval is in their hands.An experienced loan officer can convey or send your message to the underwriting department along with your application which could be [...] Continue Reading…

The current real estate situation is a killer for most borrowers. While prices are down to very attractive numbers, getting funding to buy a home is very tough given the current credit crunch.If you want to get funding these days, you need to eliminate the risk most lenders feel in providing loans. Specifically, you need to come up with sizeable down payments. Using a 20 to 25 percent down payment is going to make a lender feel more comfortable giving you money. Whereas a person putting down 3 percent wont be particularly bothered about a short sale or foreclosure, one that puts 20 percent down will!Now, 20 to 25 [...] Continue Reading…

In this modern economy, lenders provide loans tailored to just about any situation. Balloon loans are one such loan, but carry a serious downside if youre not careful.Balloon LoansA balloon loan has nothing to do with hot air or floating around the world in 80 days. Fail to plan very carefully when using one of these loans, however, and your financial world will definitely go down in flame like the Hindenburg.A balloon loan is a mortgage with a fixed interest rate for a set period of years. Unlike traditional fixed rate home loans, the interest rates on balloon loans are nearly as low as those found on adjustable rate [...] Continue Reading…