Helping Washington State homeowners learn more about their mortgage options.
Fannie Mae (conventional lending) recently changed their underwriting guidelines to no longer factor in credit scores for underwriting approval!
Before this guideline change, borrowers needed to have a mid-score of at least 620 to qualify for a conventional mortgage. Scores below 620 could mean that someone may have to opt for an FHA mortgage, which has both upfront and monthly mortgage insurance regardless of the amount of down payment or equity with the property. [Read more…]
FHA issued an update to their guidelines (ML 2025-09) revising residency requirements for FHA mortgages. The new guidelines only allows U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents and removes non-permanent residents from being eligible.
From Mortgage Letter 2025-09:
“Currently, non-permanent residents are subject to immigration laws that can affect their ability to remain legally in the country. This uncertainty poses a challenge for FHA as the ability to fulfill long-term financial obligations depends on stable residency and employment.”
This is an evolving situation. I expect other government backed loans to follow suit. Stay tuned.
If you are looking at adding to your real estate investment portfolio, I may have some good news for you! We have a new program that allows investors to qualify for a mortgage based on the property’s cash flow. [Read more…]
Recently Fannie Mae added clarity to their guidelines regarding non-citizen borrowers being eligible to qualify for a conventional mortgage. According to Fannie Mae, this is not a change to existing policy, it is just (much needed) clarification for lenders.
In order to be eligible, a borrower must be “legally present” in the United States. This means the borrower must have: [Read more…]
KOMO News is reporting that it takes an income of $105K to buy a median-priced home in the Seattle area. This is based off a report from HSH.com. When you dig deeper into the report, here’s how HSH.com came up with their numbers: [Read more…]
King County will unveil how much your property taxes are for 2019 on February 15, the day after Valentines Day. <3
If you recall last year, many were stunned to see just how much their property taxes jumped. Our property taxes increased roughly 27% just last year alone!
If you are in the process of buying or refinancing a home, you need to be aware of changes to the property taxes if the transaction is closing around February 15, 2018 as this could potentially impact qualifying for the mortgage since it will most likely mean an increase to the total mortgage payment. This is especially true if your debt-to-income (DTI) ratios are anywhere near the limits for qualifying. [Read more…]
Amazon recently announced that it’s increasing it’s minimum wage to $15 for all employees, including part-time, seasonal employees and temps effective November 1, 2018. Amazon states this will benefit more than 250,000 employees and over 100,000 people who will be hired for the upcoming holiday season. Even Operations and Customer Service employees who are already making $15 per hour will receive an increase to their hourly wage. [Read more…]
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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