Washington State Mortgages, Made Clear. Buying or Refinancing? Let's find the right loan together.
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…]
A limited-cash out refinance is a refinance where typically, the home owner receives little to no-cash back at closing. It’s also referred to as a “rate-term” refinance. A limited cash-out or rate-term refinance offers better interest rates and/or pricing for interest rates than a true “cash out” refinance. [Read more…]
I just received a newsletter from a local real estate agent which had an article about whether buyers should opt for a conventional or FHA loan. I’m pretty certain the real estate agent didn’t write the article, however the author, whoever they are, got a lot of things wrong regarding these two mortgage programs. Many of the items that were wrong are what I think are fairly common misconceptions with these two popular mortgage programs. So I thought this was a grand opportunity to write a post to correct them…I’ll skip the fine hairs 😉 [Read more…]
Home owners looking to take advantage of today’s low rates with a refinance or purchase, may want to consider a 20 year fixed conventional mortgage. The 20 year fixed conventional offers lower rates than the 30 year fixed and lower payments than a 15 year fixed mortgage.
