Articles Tagged With: FHA 203b Mortgage

March 31, 2023

Make The Most Of Your FHA Home Loan

Your home loan choices aren’t limited to the type of home loan available. The marketplace offers FHA, conventional, USDA, VA, and other options. But some of the choices in the FHA home loan program may change how you think about buying a home. Should you build instead of buy? Should you consider a fixer-upper? Or would you rather buy an existing house you can move into right away? FHA Loan Program Options It’s not a simple matter of deciding between whether to have a home constructed on your own lot by applying for an FHA One-Time Close construction loan or choosing the FHA 203(b) loan to purchase an existing-construction home. Borrowers also have the option to choose a fixer-upper home and apply for an FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation loan to pay | more...

March 24, 2023

FHA Loans Compared To Conventional Mortgages

By Bruce Reichstein

If you aren’t sure whether to apply for an FHA loan or a conventional mortgage to purchase or refinance your home, there are some comparisons you can make between FHA and conventional loans. For some, 2023 is a year to make the jump from renting to owning, and if you are thinking about your options, it’s crucial to make informed choices. Don’t pull the trigger on a new loan application without comparing the features of different types of mortgage loans, government-backed and conventional. Even if you decide not to choose an FHA mortgage in the end, making the most informed decision you can is paramount. Down Payments The mortgages with the lowest down payments are USDA loans and VA mortgages, which both feature a zero down option. Some conventional loan | more...

What You Need To Know About Your FHA Home Loan

March 20, 2023

Don’t Buy A House Without A Home Inspection

By Bruce Reichstein

Here’s a common example of a home buyer question that is asked after the purchase of a house with an FHA home loan has closed, the new owners have moved in, and suddenly discover there are serious issues with the property: “I did not get a home inspection when I purchased my house, and now there are problems. Do I have any recourse?” If what is meant by “recourse” involves some form of intervention or relief from the lender or the FHA, the general answer is no–you don’t have any avenues of recourse when buying a home if you choose not to pay for the optional but essential home inspection and choose to rely only on the FHA appraisal instead. An FHA appraisal is NOT a home inspection in spite | more...

What Credit Score Is Needed For An FHA Mortgage?

March 15, 2023

What Are FHA Home Loan Discount Points?

By Bruce Reichstein

If you don’t know what discount points are, you should explore them as an option to lower your mortgage loan interest rate while still in the planning and saving stages of your FHA mortgage. For new purchase loans, including FHA One-Time Close construction mortgages, FHA Condo loans, or FHA Mobile Home loans, discount points may help you save money upfront on your mortgage over the loan’s lifetime. Discount points aren’t for everyone–some borrowers prioritize reducing their upfront costs and these FHA loan applicants won’t be interested in points. Why? They represent a larger upfront and out-of-pocket expense. But for those who want to pay more upfront so they can save money down the line should consider points. What are these home loan discount points? The financial website Investopedia.com defines them | more...

March 13, 2023

How Do FHA Loan Requirements Work?

By Bruce Reichstein

How do FHA loan requirements work? Do you know what you need to qualify for an FHA mortgage loan or FHA refinance loan? There are important details about FHA mortgage loans that can help you make an informed decision about applying for one. We’ll examine them below. FHA Loans: Lower Down Payment Requirements FHA loan down payment rules say you’ll need a minimum 3.5% down based on the appraised value of the home. You won’t be able to get a zero-down payment FHA mortgage unless you are a qualified borrower applying for an FHA 203(h) mortgage for disaster victims in a federally-declared disaster area. 3.5% down is the minimum cash investment required. Some borrowers with low FICO scores may be required to put down 10% depending on their scores, lender | more...

March 6, 2023

FHA Home Loan Down Payments: Do You Need Help?

By Joe Wallace

If you want to apply for an FHA condo loan, an FHA mobile home loan, or even an FHA construction loan, you must anticipate the down payment requirements for these mortgages. At the very minimum, all FHA borrowers must put 3.5% down, with a higher down payment required for those with lower FICO scores. One of the first questions many readers will be asking at this point is likely, “What FICO scores require the higher down payment?” That question is one reason you’re reading this article right now; issues can affect your down payment requirements. It’s not safe to assume that you can simply pay what the FHA loan program rules require–lender standards, state law, and other variables can come into play. One variable is your credit score, and another | more...

February 27, 2023

Anticipating Closing Costs For Your New Home Loan

By Joe Wallace

Buying a home requires planning and saving. Especially for closing costs, which can include appraisal fees, the home inspection, compliance inspections, and the Up-Front Mortgage Insurance Premium. It takes time to save for these expenses, but some borrowers will pay more up front than others. That is usually due to a combination of factors, but the thing new home loan applicants need to know is that your financial needs and goals will dictate how and when you pay certain closing costs. Did you know you can finance some closing costs and have the home’s seller help you pay for others? Government-backed mortgages like FHA home loans (including FHA One-Time Close construction loans which can help even a first-time home buyer build a home from scratch) make buying or building a | more...

February 26, 2023

Can I Do My Own Contracting Work With An FHA One-Time Close Construction Loan?

By Bruce Reichstein

When applying for an FHA One-Time Close / Single-Close construction loan to have a house built from the ground up, some borrowers want to know if the FHA construction loan program will permit the borrower to act as her own contractor. FHA loan rules found in HUD 4000.1 would seem to make this question fairly easy to answer, but look beyond this quote from the FHA home loan rulebook-this isn’t the only rule that governs the FHA construction loan process: “The Borrower must have contracted with a builder to construct the improvements. The builder must be a licensed general contractor. While the FHA guidelines state “The Borrower may act as the general contractor, only if the Borrower is also a licensed general contractor,” the FHA lender can choose not to | more...

Home Loans For Building On Your Own Land

February 12, 2023

One-Time Close Construction Hints

By Joe Wallace

One-Time Close (OTC) loans allow borrowers to build a house on their own lot instead of having to choose from existing properties. You can be a first-time home buyer and still be approved for a One-Time Close construction loan, also known as Single-Close loans or Single-Close construction mortgages. If you have never examined your options on the real estate market, it’s easy to assume you aren’t financially qualified for a construction loan. After all, that sounds like a very big undertaking, doesn’t it? Having a house built for you? That may sound like something that other people might qualify for, but the fact is that FHA and VA OTC loans have the same requirements as any other FHA or VA mortgage. These loans are designed to be more affordable, and that | more...

February 10, 2023

Credit Monitoring For First-Time Home Buyers

By Joe Wallace

Modern payment gateways, online selling and re-selling, and even digital currencies such as Bitcoin make for a more complicated relationship with credit and personal security; doing business digitally exposes consumers to more risk every day and from a variety of angles. Your account can be hacked individually, it can be compromised as part of a larger “harvest” of personal data and account numbers from a target company, etc. You may have had a credit card “skimmed” by a third-party device secretly installed in a gas pump payment swiper, or you could have been “shoulder surfed” at the ATM while entering your account information. Whatever the approach taken to this sort of crime, the threat to consumers is very real. Today’s news headlines tell us there are too many ways accounts | more...