FHA for Home Purchase or Refinance

Did you know that you can get a government-insured loan up to 97% of the value of the property for either a purchase or refinance transaction? It's true, even with all the credit tightening that you've heard and read about, you can still get a government-insured loan for up to 97% loan to value. With most programs, you can even allow the seller to pay for many of the buyer's closing costs on a purchase transaction, keeping the amount of money the borrower has to come in with down to an absolute minimum.

The loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, a department of HUD (The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development). FHA loans have been available since 1934 so they have a long-standing record of helping people attain affordable. homeownership

Government Home Loans are available with a variety of attractive terms including 15 and 30 year fixed rates. Borrowers can qualify for the loan with less than perfect credit scores making the loans not only affordable, but also attainable. The loans are available for first-time homeowners and seasoned homeowners alike, there is no requirement that you have homeownership experience.

Most of your closing costs and fees can be included in the loan and the loans can be used for 1-4 family properties. FHA also offers unique properties such as their 203K program which allows borrowers to purchase a home and obtain funds to fix it up all at the same time. How many other loan products give borrowers this much flexibility when looking at properties needing repairs?! FHA even offers loans for manufactured housing and some mobile homes.

Not only do the FHA programs allow borrowers of all different backgrounds to achieve the goal of affordable financing, but they are better for borrowers today than at any time in the past. The loan limits have been changed from county by county limits which, in some cases, were not always adequate to serve the needs of many of the area residents.

With the nation-wide limit of $417,000, FHA lending now encompasses more area than at any other time (other than the possible brief exception of the temporary limit increase of 2008 when a temporary increase in high cost areas allowed for loan amounts all the way to $729,000).

HUD even allows borrowers to obtain gift funds for the down payments, as long as those gift funds are from acceptable sources. Acceptable sources do not include sellers, realtors, developers, lenders or anyone associated with the transaction, but other than that, HUD is pretty lenient if the donor has a demonstrated relationship to the borrower (family member, lifelong friend, church, etc).

If you're not sure about whether or not you can qualify for a new government home loan, give us a call today and let us review your qualifications. There is no obligation and you may be eligible for that home you thought you could only dream about!