Buy HUD Home for $100 Down Payment The HUD incentive program is designed to attract home buyers in the buying market to move excess housing inventory. Do not wait - this incentive program will only run for a short time! If you are looking to purchase a home with minimum cash requirements this program could be the answer! To find a list of the available homes for this program, go to hudhomestore.com, select the State of Maryland and Buyer Type as All. Buy HUD Home for $100 Down payment Requirements: Home buyer must offer the full asking price for the home Home buyer must live in the property for a minimum of 1 year (investors are not qualified for this HUD incentive program) Home buyer should use a FHA loan for the purchase of the home, e.g. (FHA 203b, 203k loans are acceptable) The home must be a HUD owned home The home buyer must use a HUD registered real estate agent or broker to qualify for this incentive … [Read more...]
First Time Home Buyers
First Time Home Buyers can now take advantage of the MY HOME II and Maryland Preferred Rate Loan - effective immediately. This is a special partnership with Prince George’s County. The collaboration pairs the Maryland Preferred Rate loan which offers the lowest rate available through the Maryland Mortgage program (MMP). Now, you take advantage of a generous down payment assistance provided by the Prince George’s County MY HOME II program. The two programs require separate applications. Maryland Preferred: A Maryland Mortgage loan at a very attractive interest rate (shown on our website and effective as of time of reservation). Application is made through an approved MMP lender. For more information, please see the fact sheet available on mmp.maryland.gov/PrinceGeorges. MY HOME II: A home buyer assistance program administered by the Redevelopment Authority of Prince George’s County. Only lenders approved by both MMP and MY HOME II can offer both programs. MY HOME II … [Read more...]
Interest Rates for 30 year Conventional Fixed Rate
Interest rates for a 30 year conventional fixed rate mortgages are currently at 3.47% according to Freddie Mac's latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey. For the past 16 weeks, rate have remained historically low at or below 3.5%. The interest rate the borrower secures when buying a home not only greatly impacts their monthly housing costs,but also impacts their purchasing power. Purchasing power, simply put, is the amount of home they can afford to buy for the budget they have available to spend. As rates increase, the price of the house they can afford will decrease if they plan to stay within a certain monthly housing budget. The chart below shows what impact rising interest rates would have if they planned to purchase a home within the national median price range and planned to keep the principal and interest payments at or about $1,100 a month. Buyer's Purchasing … [Read more...]
The Basics of Mortgage Financing
The basics of mortgage financing for each type of mortgage financing as it relates to credit, income and assets follows. We have included helpful tips that will help home buyers in situations that are unique and do not follow cookie cutter conventional financing. Credit score: Currently, the lowest credit score is 620 if no mortgage insurance is needed. And, 640 if mortgage insurance is required. Loan officers cannot manually underwrite conventional loans. They must have an Approve/Eligible in the automated underwriting system. Unlike Federal Housing Authority (FHA) loan - Conventional loans carry risk based pricing adjustments so the lower the credit score the higher the rate and mortgage insurance rate. Typically, a buyer with low credit scores will be much better served using FHA financing because the rate and Mortgage Insurance (MI) will cost less for them. Income: The maximum debt to income ratio is typically 45%. However, a Loan Prospector with good … [Read more...]
Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP)
Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP): Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP) DROPPED their credit score requirement to 640 on conventional financing up to 97% LTV. Now - Home buyers who qualify for a Federal Housing Authority (FHA) mortgage loan can easily go conventional under this program because the MMP sets the debt to income limit at 45% which follows conventional guidelines exactly. The MMP program also have a flat interest rate for all buyers. It is not credit score dependent when determining the interest rate as traditional conventional loans. This means a lower score buyer will still receive a great rate! And, buyers only have to put 3% down instead of 3.5% under FHA requirements. Be mindful that the seller can only contribute up to 3% of the closing costs if the LTV is above 90%. Here is a quick look at the Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP)... If you have not owned a home in the past three years in the State of Maryland, there is an EXCELLENT chance you are … [Read more...]
Are you Ready to Make the Leap into Home Ownership?
Are you ready to make the leap into home ownership? Are you still living at home? Renting a home to own? While everyone moves at their own pace now is the time to take advantage of the historically low interest rates. In addition to, local and federal programs available to first time home owners. Here are some a few signs to observe to determine if it is time to own your own home. Let's take a look at some of the reasons you should consider to justify your home buying decision. Are You Sticking Around? If you plan on moving soon for a job transfer. Or, plan on moving in the future for other family reasons - it may be better to rent. However, if you are thinking about living in the same city, town or within the same county for years to come - it is time to put down roots! You will appreciate the stability that comes with home ownership. Home ownership can make you more prepared for a marriage and/or a family if that's the lifestyle you prefer. The stability of … [Read more...]
How Home Equity Works – Buying a Home can be Your Best Investment
How home equity works - buying a home can be your best investment... When delving into the world of real estate and investment property, there are many terms that will come up that require further explanation. Whether you've never heard the phrase 'home equity' before or you have a little familiarity, here are the ins and out of what it means and how this asset can help your financial outlook. All About Home Equity Essentially, home equity refers to your portion of the value of your home. The dollar amount of this figure is important because it is included among your assets when determining your net worth. If this sounds confusing, think of it this way: if you have completely paid off the cost of your home, the value of your home equity is this total amount. Of course, because most people seek a lender to borrow money from when they purchase a home, their home equity would consist of their down payment and whatever amount they've paid down on the mortgage since … [Read more...]
Buying a New Home Grows Wealth Faster Than Renting
Buying a new home grows your wealth faster than renting - There can be many downsides to both renting and buying. Depending on what side of the coin you are on...if you're leaning towards purchasing a home the purchase can have added benefits for your bank account that renting does not. Renting can certainly alleviate many of the costs that go along with property ownership. However, purchasing a home can have positive monetary affects in the long run. The Good Impacts of Inflation While inflation is often seen as a dirty word a real estate purchase can provide the positive side of inflation with how your home purchase investment will grow over the years. Putting money into rent will mean that money is gone and out the window once you've paid for the month. Investing into a property will come back to you in future gains as home equity in the real estate market. While buying a home will be more expensive in the short term, it can also provide you with greater financial flexibility … [Read more...]
First Time Home Buyers Credit
First time home buyers credit - The State of Maryland has a great program to help home buyers obtain home ownership and now first time home buyers can qualify for the the Maryland Mortgage Program! If you have not owned a home in the past three years in the State of Maryland, there is an EXCELLENT chance you will will be eligible for assistance of $5,000 at a MINIMUM. And, even if you have owned a home in the past three years, there are targeted areas where you can buy again without the 3 year wait. For example, the entire City of Baltimore is classified as targeted so anyone can get $5,000 in assistance as long as they don't own any other property when they go to settlement. The Maryland Mortgage Program offers $5,000 in assistance or potentially more depending on the your employer for down payment or closing cost assistance. So, if are purchasing a $200,000 home and you need 3.5% of the purchase price ($7,000) as a down payment, this program will … [Read more...]
Veteran Buyers
Veteran buyers will be faced with several changes in the coming months when applying for a VA loan. As of now, the Senate is reviewing a law that has already passed The House of Representatives to make two big changes to VA loans. The first change is to get rid of VA loan limits entirely so buyers do not have to come up with a down payment. Right now, a buyer can purchase up to $417,000 with no money down at all. If they go above this amount - they have to come up with some money for the down payment. Let's say it is 25% of the difference of the sales price over $417,000. As an example, if a buyer purchases a $500,000 house then they need to come up with $20,750 ($500,000-$417,000=$83,000 x 25%). Under the new law - they would not need any money for the down payment if they purchased over $417,000. This will have a huge impact on the cash needed for high end veteran buyers. The second change is in regards to VA non - allowables. Right now there are … [Read more...]