Grants for FTHB are largely different from first time home buyer loans, mostly because, unlike loans or mortgages, grants for buying homes are non-refundable. Great, so, that means you can just walk into your local federal housing agency and ask for some money, for, say, buying a house with bad credit, right? Not exactly. The […]
Does Buying a Home Help on Taxes?
Today’s post tackles yet another seemingly straightforward question: does buying a home help on taxes? If you were to believe the hype, which you get plenty of, due to the competitive nature of the home lending industry, the answer would be a resolute ‘yes’. Yet, in reality, things are not as picture-perfect, when it comes […]
The Lowdown on CFPB Mortgage Rules and Reforms Applied to Them
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB, in brief), watches over just about all the segments of the US economy, in order to make sure that the consumers’ best interests are protected in all areas related to financial services and involving transactions. The mortgage servicing industry is no exception, as proven by the existence of CFPB […]
Are Closing Costs Tax Deductible?
Since tax deductions are an often touted benefit of home purchases for first time buyers, it’s just as reasonable to wonder about closing costs tax deductible perks as it to ask oneself ‘are property taxes deductible?’ The answer is affirmative on both counts, though specific conditions apply both to the property tax deduction (also known […]
Minimum Down Payment for Conventional Loan versus FHA-Insured Loan
The MDPFCL (or ‘minimum down payment for conventional loan’, in full) is a major issue for potential home owners interested in applying for a loan. This especially applies to first-time home buyers, who are often still burdened by student debt, as well as to any household in the low- to moderate income earning tier. As […]
Finding the Lowest Down Payment Mortgage for Jumbo Loans
A jumbo loan is a large mortgage – too much of a risk for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to insure. The jumbo loan limit is $417,000 in most areas of the United States and $625,000 for more expensive markets like San Francisco and New York. And even if taking out a bigger home loan […]
Everything You Need to Know about the Jumbo Mortgage
What is a jumbo loan? As its name suggests, a jumbo mortgage is a mortgage that’s larger than the typical home loan, more often referred to as a conventional conforming loan. What does this mean, specifically? It entails that, even though jumbo loan credit quality requirements are typically higher than that of a conventional loan, […]
Home Purchase Assistance for First Time Buyers via HUD HOME
In the wake of the housing bubble and the recession that followed it, home purchase assistance programs became an important point on the authorities’ agendas, from federal to state and local level. HUD loans can work very well as first time home buyer grants, even though they were not specifically designed to this end. Yet, […]