With stimulus and tax refunds hitting bank accounts, now's a great time to talk about a new home.
Here are ways the extra cash from your stimulus check or tax refund can help with a home purchase:
With some loan programs offering low or even no down payments, you may be able to get into a home sooner than you thought!
Before you take any action toward a new home purchase, please reach out to the experts at Greenway Mortgage.
Sometimes paying off that debt helps, and sometimes it’s better to have the cash on hand. Let’s look at your particular scenario to see the options available to you.
The Federal Housing Agency (FHA) has just increased the amount of money that can be borrowed through its mortgage programs by nearly $25k in most areas. In high cost locations, the increase is even greater. New limits will take effect in 2021.
The increases will allow more borrowers to take advantage of FHA’s benefits:
Here are the specifics:
Contact your Greenway Mortgage loan officer today for more details about how the increase can impact you.
On November 24, 2020 the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced an increase in the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2021.
The maximum loan limit for one-unit properties will be $548,250 an increase from $510,400 in 2020. Release.
The decision was based on the recovery of housing prices under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). They require that the baseline conforming loan limit be adjusted each year for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reflect the change in the average U.S. home price.
FHFA third quarter 2020 House Price Index (HPI) reported that house prices increased 7.42%, on average, between the third quarters of 2019 and 2020. The baseline maximum conforming loan limit in 2021 will increase by the same percentage.
For areas in which 115 percent of the local median home value exceeds the baseline conforming loan limit, the maximum loan limit will be higher than the baseline loan limit.
A list of the 2021 maximum conforming loan limits for all counties and county-equivalent areas in the country can be found here.
WHAT DOES THIS CHANGE MEAN FOR HOMEOWNERS AND HOMEBUYERS?
This means YOU may be able to:
Purchase a higher priced home with more financing options, possibly including lower rates.
Refinance an existing, higher-rate “jumbo” loan and possibly drop mortgage insurance.
Combine 1st and 2nd mortgage
Contact your Greenway Mortgage loan officer today for more details about how the increase can impact you.
2021 Conforming Loan Limits Effective January 2021
A change is underway in the world of adjustable-rate mortgages and mortgage-backed loans such as revolving home equity lines of credit, known as HELOCs. For decades, the rates on those loans and a variety of other financial products were determined by an index called the London Interbank Overnight Rate (LIBOR). This is now being phased out in favor of a new index called the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Sometime after 2021, LIBOR is expected to be discontinued. However, the transition has already begun.
If you have an adjustable rate mortgage, a home equity line of credit or a reverse mortgage, it may be a good time to check with your servicer about which index your mortgage loan is tied to. Why? It could affect your rate the next time you’re due for an adjustment. To understand how this change might affect you, let’s dive into the key differences between LIBOR and SOFR.