Articles Tagged With: FHA Mortgage

August 12, 2021

What To Do When Morgage Rates Are Rising

What do you need to know when mortgage rates start to climb? That depends greatly on whether you are interested in buying, refinancing, or even building a home from the ground up. Why? Because there are situational concerns that may affect your decision-making depending on what kind of home loan you need. Mortgage rates go higher for a variety of reasons. Borrowers should know that typically, what’s good for the economy can mean upward pressure on mortgage rates. Conversely, bad news for the economy can mean good news for mortgage loan interest rates. So what’s a borrower to do? If you seek an FHA refinance loan to get out of an adjustable-rate mortgage, your course of action might be as simple as comparing the rates your lender could offer you | more...

August 11, 2021

Questions To Ask About Your Credit Report

By Joe Wallace

Do you dread the idea of looking at your credit report? Some people delay looking at theirs because they are afraid of what they might see, or afraid they won’t be able to understand what they are reading in their own report. Fortunately, there are some questions you should ask about your credit report that can give you a good start in the right direction–these questions will help you better understand what’s in your report and what a lender looks for when they review yours. When you get your copy of your credit report from Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax, be sure to review the report once “cold”, and then review it again with the following questions: Credit Report Accuracy: Open Accounts? Are the accounts listed in your credit report open? | more...

August 9, 2021

Do You Need Help Saving Your FHA Mortgage?

By Joe Wallace

Do you worry about your ability to make payments on your FHA home loan? You are not alone, and the FHA and HUD want to help. There have been many foreclosure prevention measures taken by lenders and the FHA/HUD alike including a COVID-19 related foreclosure moratorium, loan modification options for qualifying applicants and much more. In early 2021, the FHA and HUD announced “loss mitigation options” to help those recovering financially from the pandemic; these included a COVID-19 Advance Loan Modification offered to “…eligible delinquent Borrowers who can achieve a 25 percent reduction to the Principal and Interest (P&I) portion of the Borrower’s monthly mortgage payment through a 30-year rate and term loan modification” according to HUD.gov The FHA and HUD continue evaluating how the pandemic has affected the agency’s | more...

August 3, 2021

Before You Apply For Mortgage Pre-Approval

By Joe Wallace

A lot of people assume they are ready to apply for any major line of credit at any time. But if you want to apply for mortgage pre-approval, there are some important things you need to ask yourself to determine whether you are truly ready to apply. Where are you at in the current process of planning and saving for a home loan? FHA mortgages, conventional loans, and even some first-time homebuyer downpayment assistance plans require the borrower to make a minimum investment. If you don’t have a down payment saved or have a plan to come up with your down payment and closing costs before seeking a lender, you may not be ready to apply for pre-approval. But what else should you be asking? One of the first things | more...

August 2, 2021

Buying Your First Home With An FHA Mortgage

By Joe Wallace

What do you need to know about buying your first home? If you want to explore your FHA home loan options there are some things to remember–FHA mortgages require a 3.5% down payment, it’s true, but you can apply for local down payment assistance to help offset that expense. A first-time home buyer may have state and local programs open to them that can help. But that’s just one aspect of buying your first home you should be mindful of. Some don’t realize how flexible an FHA mortgage can be. You can select a typical suburban house to buy, but you also have the option to apply for an FHA mobile home loan, an FHA condo loan, etc. One thing to remember about all of these options–FHA loans do not | more...

July 28, 2021

FHA Loan Limits: Fact and Fiction

By Joe Wallace

When it’s time to commit to buying a home, you’ll need to know what the conforming loan limit for the county where you want to buy the home is for the current year. FHA loan limits in 2021 are determined annually and occasionally there is an update posted during the year when circumstances warrant. That’s one reason to investigate the loan limits early in the new year after they change–you don’t really know if they have changed or not until you check or are told by a lender or other authority what the going loan limits are. Fact: FHA Loan Limits Vary Depending On The Market Some counties are located in high-cost areas and have subsequently higher FHA loan limits than typical-cost or low-cost areas. Some housing markets have loan | more...

July 26, 2021

FHA And HUD Announce Streamlined Foreclosure Relief

By Joe Wallace

The FHA and HUD have announced mortgage relief streamlined for those who need assistance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with FHA mortgages have a new “FHA COVID-19 Recovery waterfall” which “streamlines and revises FHA’s previous options for struggling homeowners, reduces required documentation, and allows mortgage servicers to provide greater payment reduction for eligible homeowners with FHA-insured Single Family Title II forward mortgages” according to the HUD official site. “This next step in the evolution of FHA’s COVID-19 response is a significant and meaningful way to help those homeowners who will be at a critical point in their recovery in the coming months and transitioning out of forbearance to permanent sustainable payments,” which are the words of FHA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lopa Kolluri, who was quoted in | more...

July 20, 2021

FHA Loan Limits: Things To Know

By Joe Wallace

What does a new borrower need to know about FHA loan limits? For a start, unless you are applying for a VA mortgage loan with 100% of your VA home loan entitlement, you are likely subject to loan limits of some kind whether staying below those limits for a conforming loan or exceeding those limits for a Jumbo mortgage. If you want to know some important things about FHA loan limits, keep reading but one thing that is good to know up front? Conforming loans or loans that are at or below the loan limit for FHA, USDA, conventional mortgages and VA loans for those without 100% of their home loan entitlement will typically feature more competitive interest rates than jumbo loans which may have higher rates due to the | more...

July 16, 2021

Why Your Credit Report Matters

By Joe Wallace

Are you new to the mortgage loan process? It’s easy to make certain assumptions, especially where credit approval is concerned. What do you need to know about your credit report? Don’t forget that how you use your credit, how much credit you use, and whether you pay on time are all factors that go into your FICO score calculations. There are several factors that may help you make better choices about how to plan and apply for your mortgage. Credit Report Factors To Consider Your FICO scores, credit card use, plus information about the amount of credit you use per card (up to the credit limit and by how much) are all things your lender will need to see when looking at your report. FICO scores are an important part | more...

July 15, 2021

FHA Loan Interest Rates And FICO Scores

By Joe Wallace

Buying a home means paying attention to your financials–credit scores, debt repayment habits, and credit utilization rates. Paying attention to them as early as possible is an important choice when you are planning your home loan. Don’t put off working on your credit–time is not on your side if you are planning to apply for a home loan in the next 12 months if you haven’t looked at your credit scores, reports, etc. If you want to buy a home with an FHA mortgage, you generally have more forgiving credit qualification guidelines from the FHA, and that’s a great reason to use an FHA mortgage. FICO score issues can be a major worry for some borrowers, but by working on your own credit far ahead of your home loan you | more...