Articles in Category: Fixed Rate Mortgage

July 16, 2024

Do You Need Help Understanding Your FHA Loan?

The variety of FHA home loan programs, including construction loans and reverse mortgages, can be overwhelming for many borrowers. HUD-approved housing counseling offers invaluable support to help borrowers make informed decisions about these complex programs. You can get a free referral to a HUD-approved housing counselor by calling 1-800-CALL FHA. FHA Loan Counseling: Your Path to Homeownership The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insures mortgages, reducing lender risk and expanding access to homeownership for individuals with lower credit scores or limited down payment funds. However, understanding the nuances of certain FHA loans, such as reverse mortgages and construction loans, can be challenging. Did you know you can call HUD to get a referral to an approved housing counselor to help you through the process? Housing counselors can help you in the | more...

July 3, 2024

Planning Your First Home

By Joe Wallace

Are you looking for your first home? Applying for an FHA loan might seem intimidating, but there are some things you can do to help reduce those feelings of being overwhelmed by unfamiliar details. This is especially true in an age of confusing information about changing interest rates, modified credit qualifying standards, and options to save your home if disaster strikes. Start Early The key is to start early and plan ahead. Before you fill out loan application paperwork, consider making your planning phase for the loan last a year or more. This takes some immediate pressure off borrowers to save up for the down payment and closing costs. It also provides adequate time to work on your credit and cut your monthly debt. What other things can first-time home | more...

July 1, 2024

Comparing Home Loan Offers

By Joe Wallace

Are you planning to buy a new home? You can find the right home loan by applying a similar process you use to find the right house. In fact, shopping around for the right mortgage loan is just as important as shopping around for the right house. If you are considering an FHA mortgage to buy, renovate, or build a home, you’ll want to make the same kind of informed decisions about the lender and the loan. Comparing lenders and loans is the way to do that. But there are some tips you can follow to make that process more streamlined. Research Multiple FHA Lenders While on paper, FHA loan terms and conditions such as FICO score requirements seem to be standardized, the FHA minimum FICO score requirements are just | more...

June 25, 2024

What To Look For When House Hunting

By Joe Wallace

If you are looking for your first home, there are areas of every house you should consider including in your mental checklist of features to look at during a real estate open house or a private viewing of a sale property. What follows is not a complete list but a great place to start when looking for potential deal-breaker problems lurking in the house you want to purchase with an FHA mortgage. The Condition Of The Walls And Ceiling Homes that have been flooded or experienced significant plumbing issues could have signs of water damage in areas like the basement, stairs, and walls throughout the house. Look for stains, patches of wall that don’t quite match the others, warped wood, poorly closed doors, etc. Staining and the smell of mold | more...

June 24, 2024

Home Loan Interest Rate Trends For Summer 2024

By Joe Wallace

Should house hunters dive into today’s housing market? Or is it safer to wait until rates have fallen a bit further? Yahoo! Finance published a mortgage rate report in June of 2024, and that report includes a prediction that home loan interest rates could (as stated by Fannie Mae) remain in the 6% range for the rest of 2024. That affects conventional mortgages, FHA loans, and even need-based mortgages like those offered by the USDA. According to the article, Fannie Mae “predicts 30-year fixed rates will be 6.7% at the end of 2024.” That’s better than the May forecast when Fannie Mae predicted home loan rates could hit 7% by year’s end. The Yahoo! Finance article points out that home loan interest rates are coming down, but slowly over time. | more...

June 20, 2024

Using A Real Estate Agent To Buy A Home

By Joe Wallace

There are many types of homes, home loans, and house hunters. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for FHA loans. Knowing the right options for the right transaction is essential. Whether or not to use a real estate agent is another area where there is no single ideal answer to the question, Is it worth it to use an agent? Some will definitely need one, while others may be able to get the work done independently. Some House Hunters Don’t Need An Agent The borrower who buys a home in their hometown may have a good grasp of their housing market. If you have lived in an area long enough to spot an overpriced house, you might not be as keen on getting the help of an agent. But if you are | more...

May 28, 2024

Before Your First FHA Mortgage Payment

By Joe Wallace

Do you know what to expect after your FHA mortgage closes? Borrowers should know a few common things about what to expect after closing day, such what to expect from payments and mortgage statements. What To Know About FHA Loan Mortgage Statements Not all home loans have the same terms and conditions, so be sure to review your contract carefully to learn how your statement will be delivered each month or if the loan stipulates you have a payment book to rely on instead. Assuming your mortgage payment notification automatically comes to you electronically or by U.S. Mail is not safe–make a point to learn what your contract says. Do you need an alternative option? Ask early. Your mortgage statement should have information about what you owe. This includes any | more...

May 24, 2024

Commonly Asked Questions About Applying For An FHA Home Loan

By Joe Wallace

Are you ready to stop renting and start owning your own home? The FHA home loan program was designed to help borrowers get into affordable homes with a low down payment requirement. FHA loan rules feature more forgiving FICO score standards (lender standards will also apply), and first-time home buyers should know there are down payment assistance programs in many states that can help. What sort of questions are common for FHA home loans? Read below to learn some important details every new borrower should keep in mind. How Long Does It Take To Save And Prepare For A Mortgage Application? Start planning as early as possible. It’s good to give yourself a year or more to review your credit reports, start monitoring your credit, and work on getting your | more...

May 20, 2024

Down Payment Issues In Today’s Housing Market

By Joe Wallace

In the days before January 1, 2024, finance pundits and mortgage blogs (at least in some circles) were expecting a housing recovery to be underway by now. But as of May 2024, those commentators are revising their opinions about when and how a market recovery could happen. Consider what Yahoo!Finance published on May 19, 2024. “At the beginning of the year, housing experts and homebuyers looked forward to better buying conditions — interest rates were poised to drop, a shift expected to free up inventory and cool surging home prices.” That, according to Yahoo!Finance, has “mostly changed.” The housing market is headed into summer 2024 without the hoped-for mortgage rate cuts. There are also problems with housing inventory in some markets. Even the National Association of Realtors has complained in | more...

May 17, 2024

Conventional Loans Versus FHA Mortgages

By Joe Wallace

What’s the major difference between FHA mortgage loans and conventional loans? Actually, there are several, but the first and most basic difference is that an FHA mortgage is guaranteed by the government. A conventional loan is not. The government’s backing of an FHA mortgage makes the loan less of a risk to the financial institution offering you a line of credit to purchase your home. And because the loan is backed by the government, FHA mortgages feature lower down payment requirements than many conventional mortgages. You may find conventional loans requiring 10 or even 20 percent down, whereas an FHA mortgage for qualified borrowers with FICO scores of 580 or above may qualify for maximum financing. That means a down payment requirement of only 3.5% of the adjusted value of | more...