Chip Cumming Talks FHA & 1^st Time Home Buying

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGZBcJ_sQLo

FHA mortgage rates are fixed and there is never a pre-payment penalty with a FHA home loan.  Buying a home can be a costly experience, so first time homebuyers have the ability to preserve capital with FHA loans because borrowers can finance up to 96.5% loan to value. That means that a new home buyer can get into a home with only a $3,500 down-payment. 

There is a lot to consider with FHA mortgage financing, but an experienced FHA lender or licensed loan officer should be able to shed some light on the pros and cons of a FHA mortgage. The $8000 first time homebuyer tax credit expired April 30th, but the record low rates should be enough of an incentive to become a homeowner. Read the original FHA mortgage advice article online  > FHA Home Loan Options for 1st Time Homebuyers.

The US residential real estate market is caught in the worst correction in decades with few reasons to be optimistic as the economy worsens, according to a key housing report released Monday.   “Despite unprecedented federal efforts to stimulate the economy and help homeowners make current mortgage payments, house prices continued to fall and home foreclosures continued to mount in most areas through the 1^st quarter of 2009,” according to the executive summary of the State of the Nation’s Housing annual report released by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.   “While new and existing home sales and single-family starts have shown some signs of stabilizing, ongoing job losses, house price deflation and tighter mortgage underwriting and credit are placing any recovery at risk,” the report said.

“Although there are some signs of improvement or at least steadiness in new construction and sales, housing starts stand near 60-plus year lows, and any life in home sales is coming from distressed foreclosure sales, temporary 1^st -time buyer tax credits and low mortgage interest rates for purchase and refinance that moved higher in recent weeks,” said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard’s Joint Center, in a press release.  “The best that can be said of the market is that house price corrections and steep cuts in housing production are creating the conditions that will lead to an eventual recovery,” added Eric Belsky, executive director of the Joint Center.  “For now, markets remain under considerable stress,” Belsky said.

The bleak study coincided with a separate report from the World Bank warning of more damage in the global economy.   This week, investors will be focusing on housing data and any commentary the Federal Reserve offers on the economy.  “On the economic front, new and existing home sales should show improvement but from very low levels,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds. “The recent back-up in FHA mortgage rates, although unwelcome, really should not be enough to prevent pent-up demand and still very good affordability from triggering a housing rebound.”   Resource: John Spence, Jeff Moran