FHA Changes Guidelines for Seller Concessions

In January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the first major changes to FHA financing for the year changing the maximum seller concessions from 6% to 3%  early summer 2010.

The changes to seller concessions will have a large impact. Concessions include what the seller is contributing to the buyer in the transaction. A [...]

How Long Do I Have to Wait to Buy a House After a Short Sale?

The answer to this question varies depending on the loan program a buyer is looking at, but most buyers who have past credit problems rely on FHA loans as their fastest track back to homeownership.  This is due to FHA’s lenient credit guidelines compared to conventional loan programs.

HUD (The Department of Housing and Urban Development) [...]

Homeowner's Guide to HARP

It appears that more homeowners with little-to-no-equity are gaining an interest in refinancing.  More importantly, they’re gaining confidence that there is an option.  This is good news as it appears the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) is gaining both momentum and attention.

This seems like the right time to give homeowners an extensive guide to HARP, including [...]

High Cost County Loan Limits to Extend Through 2010

The temporary high-balance loan limits for Conforming GSE (Government Sponsored Entities) and FHA loans have been extended through 2010.

This means the current loan limits set to expire this year will continue through next year.  This will help keep the real estate market on track for recovery.  According to a related blog on Zillow, the [...]

Using FHA to Buy Multi-Family Homes

Recently, I was having lunch with my friends Rob Novak (fellow Loan Officer) and Andrew Norman from ING.  It was one of those lunches where topics moved left to right without filters or agenda.  While sharing ideas and opinions of the current marketplace, the topic of first time home buyers was mentioned.  At that moment, [...]