Good News for Home Buyers in the DC area

More financial mortgage news…  For the last few years, jumbo loans (loan amounts above $729,750) have carried extremely high interest rates, in the 8-9% range.  With such a large mortgage amount, and a significantly higher interest rate for jumbo loans as compared to conforming lans, it has been very difficult for many home buyers to obtain a jumbo [...]

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Cash really is king

Say goodbye mortgage, hello cash.  More and more of my clients are paying for their home purchase with cash.  Yes, you read correctly.  Cash, and this being the DC metropolitan area, plenty of it.  So the next time you find yourself in a bidding war, please be forewarned that one of your competitors may be [...]

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$8000 means a whole lot more now

Unconfirmed rumors have been circulating for a few weeks now … but today it’s a fact:  the Federal Housing Administration will now allow qualified home buyers to apply the $8,000 tax credit when purchasing a home.
FHA will now permit its lenders to provide a short-term bridge loan that will let qualified home buyers use the tax [...]

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The I word

Investment?  Income?  Interest?

Actually, INFLATION.  The dirty little word, just there alongside Recession.   With the Fed now pouring money into the US economy by expanding its balance sheet to more than $2 trillion in order to stimulate the economy, there’s have been more than a few economists starting to talk about INFLATION.   The large Fed [...]

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Who are you?

How is a “first time home buyer” defined???  
That question, plus more about deadlines and definitions, answered here: 
The highlights:
1.  Conventional Conforming Loans up to $417,000 can now be financed up to a Loan-To-Value of 95%.  (This is up from 90%)
2.  The following is the definition of a “first-time homebuyer”:

First-time home buyers have had no ownership interest [...]

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Stay tuned …. more on the free money for First Time Home Buyers in Arlington

If you’re even thinking about buying your first home … if it’s just a glimmer in your eye … you should know about this.  In the hotly debated Economic Stimulus Bill, there is a provision for a Refundable First-time Home Buyer Credit.
As I’ve mentioned here before, last year, Congress provided taxpayers with a refundable tax [...]

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Money For Nothing: 4.5% interest rate!?!

By now you’ve probably heard the news, or is it just that I’m so tuned in to the world of mortgage finance these days?  In case you’ve missed it, the U.S. Treasury is considering a plan to buy securities that finance newly issued loans for home purchases. But to participate in the government’s program, mortgage [...]

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417 is No Longer the Magic Number

The conforming loan limits have been annonced for 2009.  In our Washington DC market, the new limits will be $625,500.  This area has been designated a high-cost area and has the highest limit possible. 
As you may know, the temporary loan limits that were instituted under the Economic Stimulus Act will expire on December 31st, 2008.  I was glad [...]

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Down Payment Assistance Programs

The New Housing Reform Act

photo courtesy of Storm Crypt

Just One Part of the Complicated Legislation
With the constant changes in the world of home mortgage financing, and the upcoming passage of the Housing Reform Act, there is a lot of discussion about the elimination of the down payment assistance programs.
As it now stands, the new law [...]

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The Big News (ho hum)

In one way or another, I’m sure you’ve been hearing about the Housing Relief Bill that Congress passed yesterday. There are three major parts to it

Foreclosure prevention – starting Oct. 1 the FHA will be able to insure up to $300 billion in new mortgages for distressed homebuyers. That’s expected to help about 400,000 distressed [...]

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