Articles Tagged With: FHA Home Loan

June 28, 2022

What To Know About FHA Mortgage Insurance

What do you need to know about FHA mortgage insurance? There are basically two payment plans for FHA mortgage insurance premiums; one for 11 years and one for the lifetime of the FHA loan. There is an Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium you pay at closing time, and then there is the annual mortgage insurance premium split up over the 12 mortgage payments a year you are scheduled to make. FHA Mortgage Insurance: How Long? FHA mortgage insurance is required on most FHA loans. Streamline Refinances and certain other loans like those for homes on Native American tribal lands have a lower rate than for purchase loans and other FHA refinance options. If you pay 10% down on an FHA mortgage you may have the option of ending your FHA | more...

June 27, 2022

FHA Home Loans And Seller Inspections: What You Need To Know

By Joe Wallace

What is a seller inspection and why should you know what it is before you start looking for a home to buy with an FHA mortgage? The National Association of Certified Home Inspectors official site says that a seller inspection, sometimes referred to as a pre-listing inspection, is popular in some areas, “…because they virtually eliminate all the pitfalls and hassles associated with waiting to do the home inspection until a buyer is found.” A seller inspection can tell you (as a buyer) a lot about a home before you decide to make an offer. But why would a seller have an inspection if there’s a risk that a defect or problem might be uncovered that can hurt the seller’s chances to sell the property? Generally speaking, it’s common sense | more...

June 22, 2022

FHA Loans And Rising Rates

By Joe Wallace

If you need to buy a home with an FHA mortgage but you are concerned about rising interest rates, there are some things you can do to help yourself make a more informed choice about your FHA loan options. There are options to haggle with the seller, and there are loan options to consider like an FHA Adjustable Rate Mortgage. In the meantime, you can work to improve your FICO scores which helps the lender offer you a lower interest rate. When it comes to negotiating with the seller, you may find the asking price is too high in general, or you may be looking for a price offset because of rising mortgage loan rates. But it may be tough to sell the idea of a lower price. Instead, you | more...

June 21, 2022

Seller’s Markets, Buyer’s Markets, And FHA Loans

By Joe Wallace

What does it mean to get an FHA loan when you are in a buyer’s market? What does it mean to use an FHA mortgage in a seller’s market? If you are new to house hunting chances are you’ve heard these terms before, but what do they mean in the context of a house hunt? FHA Home Loans In Buyer’s Markets What does it mean to be shopping for a house in a buyer’s market? The simplest answer is that you have an advantage as a buyer because there may be plenty of homes to choose from with little serious competition from other buyers. That lack of competition may be because of the supply of available houses for sale. In a buyer’s market, you would still want to get pre-qualified | more...

June 15, 2022

FHA ARM Loans: Good Or Bad Idea?

By Joe Wallace

Why do people choose FHA adjustable-rate mortgages or choose to refinance with one? There are several reasons including the need to get into a lower rate upfront, as part of an overall strategy for buying and selling the home, or to take advantage of changing interest rates. ARM Loan Basics FHA Adjustable Rate Mortgages feature an introductory rate, and that rate expires after a set amount of time, typically one year. The introductory rate can also be set between three and 10 years. After that time period, the rate adjustments begin. Borrowers do better with ARM loans when they have a strategy for dealing with the rate adjustment periods. Do you plan to sell or refinance before the introductory or initial ARM loan rate expires? That plan works better for | more...

June 14, 2022

Things To Look For When Buying A House With An FHA Mortgage

By Bruce Reichstein

Finding the right home to buy with an FHA home loan can be challenging. If you are a first-time home buyer, do you feel intimidated about making a decision on the size and configuration of the house you want to buy? You are not alone. Fortunately, you can help yourself in this process by making a checklist of features and priorities you can refer to when reviewing each property. This can be a better approach than trying to do it all from memory; you won’t forget to ask the seller or real estate agent about something important if you have it written down in front of you when you take the tour. What To Look For When Buying A Home With An FHA Mortgage: Overall Size That sounds fairly obvious | more...

June 13, 2022

What To Know About Renovating Your Home With An FHA Loan

By Joe Wallace

FHA home loans for renovation include the FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation loan and refinance loan options. There are also FHA Energy Efficient Mortgages or FHA EEMs that allow energy-saving upgrades and improvements to the property. EEMS are add-ons allowed for most FHA home loans, not a separate loan program, and adding an EEM potentially raises your monthly mortgage payment. If you need to apply for an FHA home loan to renovate, the first thing you need to know is that on paper, FHA loan rules say you may be allowed to be your own builder or contractor. However, lender standards will apply and you may find that your FHA lender does not permit this. You’ll need to ask directly as early in the process as possible. FHA loan rules say that | more...

June 10, 2022

FHA Loans: Calculating The Monthly Mortgage Payment

By Bruce Reichstein

One of the most important questions a home loan applicant can ask is, “How much will my monthly mortgage payment be?” While this may seem to be a simple calculation of how much the loan is, divided by how many months the mortgage loan payments are required, the truth is that it’s more complex than that. Mortgage loan applicants have a variety of online mortgage calculators to help them arrive at estimates, but what actually goes into the calculation of your monthly mortgage payment? If it’s not a simple matter of taking the loan amount and dividing it by the number of months the loan term is set for, what DOES go into those calculations? There are a variety of things. The basic calculation we mention is part of it, | more...

June 2, 2022

Applying For Your FHA Mortgage

By Joe Wallace

After you have gotten all the planning done, and after you have saved for your downpayment and gone house hunting, you’ll come to the place where you are finally ready to apply for a home loan. What do you need to know about this process and how it works? One of the most important things to decide is how much personal help you might need to apply. There are three basic options that may be open to you depending on the lender. Whether you need to pre-qualify, get pre-approved, or actually begin the application process itself, your lender may take a specific approach to how your loan documentation and application data is submitted. Some lenders take a very hands-off approach, allowing you to apply and submit online without requiring any | more...

June 1, 2022

June 2022 Is National Homeownership Month

By Joe Wallace

On the last day of May 2022, President Biden issued a proclamation that June 2022 is National Homeownership Month. It’s the 20th anniversary of the observance and the Department of Housing And Urban Development issued a statement about it, reminding us that homeownership has benefits and that equal opportunity and access for all should be the norm in the 21st century. During National Homeownership Month 2022, the FHA and HUD plan a series of events designed to raise awareness of fair housing issues, increase the amount of affordable housing, and make the homeownership process sustainable. “Each June, we mark National Homeownership Month, a time for HUD and FHA to renew our commitment to supporting individuals and families in achieving and sustaining homeownership,” says HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, who was | more...