When it comes to mortgage marketing, companies today are highly concerned with compliance. And rightly so. Violating compliance rules within a marketing campaign — whether inadvertently or otherwise — could land your mortgage company in hot water. Federal regulators probably won’t accept “I didn’t know” as a valid excuse. Fortunately, there’s a lot of information […]
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2016 Dallas FHA Loan Limits Raised to $334,650
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published the 2016 FHA loan limits for the Dallas / Fort Worth metro area. In response to rising home prices across the DFW metro area, HUD has increased the FHA loan limits for Dallas in 2016. This means home buyers who use the program to buy […]
Atlanta FHA Loan Limits for 2015: How They Relate to Home Prices
Atlanta FHA loan limits for 2015 are slightly higher than last year, and slightly higher than the median sale price for the metro area. This is based on HUD’s current loan limits for FHA-insured mortgage loans, as well as recent analysis of the Atlanta real estate market and home prices. Here’s what you should know […]
How Does an FHA ARM Loan Work?
Reader question: “We are thinking about using an FHA loan due to the 3.5% down payment option. We also want to use a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage because we will only live in the home for about three years, or four at the most. So I have two questions. Does the FHA offer adjustable mortgage products? […]
Buyers’ Market vs. Sellers’ Market: Understanding the Real Estate Balance
When the housing market collapsed in 2008, cities and metro areas across the country turned into buyers’ markets. Inventory levels skyrocketed as homes were foreclosed on in record numbers. Meanwhile, there were very few buyers willing to purchase a home in such troubled times. Sellers had to slash their prices to make a sale. It […]
How to Negotiate the House Price With a Seller
When buying a home, there’s a good chance you’ll have to negotiate the house price with the seller. Why? Because many homes are overpriced when they first come onto the market. It’s a common pricing “strategy” among real estate agents and homeowners. It goes something like this: “We’ll come onto the market a bit high, […]
Mortgage Industry Outlook and Trends for 2015
With Bank of America and Citi both announcing layoffs in October, you might think the mortgage industry is moving into another slump. Think again. There are several signs that 2015 could be a good year for mortgage lenders, and for the economy in general. Here is our 2015 mortgage industry outlook and trend alert. Loan […]
Can I get a conventional home loan without 20 percent down?
Reader question: “I read about some new rule that requires borrowers to put down 20 percent on home loans. QM or QRM or something to that affect. Please say it isn’t so. This seems like a very rigid requirement that will hurt a lot of responsible borrowers like myself. Is there any truth to this? […]
Choosing the Best Mortgage for You: 3 Steps to Success
Reader question: “My husband and I are hoping to buy a house later this year. We are ‘newbies’ when it comes to mortgage loans. How should we go about choosing the best mortgage product or program for us? We make pretty good money between the two of us, if that makes a difference. We were […]
8 Helpful Home-Buying Checklists for First-Time Buyers
There is a lot of information on this website, but it’s spread over hundreds of pages. So we thought it might be helpful to create a series of short but informative checklists for first-time home buyers. You’ll find them below, along with links to additional information. 8 Home Buying Checklists for First-Time Buyers The eight […]