Helping Washington State homeowners learn more about their mortgage options.
UPDATE: DECEMBER 23, 2013: Incoming Director of the FHFA, Mel Watts has announced that he will delay the increase to conforming price adjustments (aka LLPA or guarantee fees).
This week Fannie Mae revealed conforming price adjustments (LLPA) which will increase the cost for mortgage rates in 2014. This complied with the Fed beginning to pull back on their bond buying program will certainly cause mortgage rates to trend higher.
EDITORS NOTE: Fannie Mae is no longer offering the FannieMae HomePath mortgage program. If you are considering buying a Fannie Mae HomePath property (foreclosure that is owned by Fannie Mae) in Washington state, I’m happy to help you.
Earlier this week, a real estate agent emailed me this question regarding Fannie Mae HomePath mortgages:
I have a client looking at a HomePath home in King County. It’s listed at $470,000 and she wants to put down 5%. Is that possible? I had the impression that HomePath still has to conform to standards on loans and the limit would be 417,000.
Here’s my reply:
The Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, confirmed that conforming loan limits will remain unchanged from 2013 to 2014. This is great news as a few weeks ago, officials were indicating that we could see conforming loan limits reduced in early 2014. This means that a single family 1-unit residence in the greater Seattle area has a conforming loan limit of $506,000. Loan amounts above conforming limits are considered “jumbo” or non-conforming.
This weekend, Fannie Mae will be updating DU (Desktop Underwriter) to reflect the new higher minimum down payment requirements. I’ve written about that here.
This new underwriting guideline will also impact Fannie Mae HomePath mortgages, bringing the minimum down payment from 3% for owner occupied purchases to 5% down.
Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the FHFA, pretty much confirmed that we can anticipate lower conforming loan limits next year. This is from his prepared remarks for “Getting Our House in Order”:
There’s been a lot of recent chatter about the possibility of conforming loan limits being reduced in 2014 that home buyers in the greater Seattle area and home owners should be aware of.
Reuters reports that Denise Dunckel, a spokes person for the FHFA recently stated “a gradual reduction in loan limits is an appropriate and effective approach to reducing taxpayer’s mortgage risk exposure”.
EDITORS NOTE: Fannie Mae is no longer offering the FannieMae HomePath mortgage program. If you are considering buying a Fannie Mae HomePath property (foreclosure that is owned by Fannie Mae) in Washington state, I’m happy to help you.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both offer special incentives to entice buyers to properties they have foreclosed on. Fannie Mae’s program is called Homepath and Freddie Mac’s is Homesteps. Although the names some similar, their incentives are VERY different. What Fannie Mae Homepath and Freddie Mac Homesteps do have in common is that the properties are generally in better shape than other distressed homes.
Rhonda Porter is a Licensed Mortgage Originator MLO121324 living in the greater Seattle area. Rhonda began her career in 1986 in the title and escrow industry and began her mortgage career in 2000. She enjoys helping people understand the mortgage process and started writing The Mortgage Porter in late 2006. Read More…
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