After months of wrangling by Congress and the White House, the $8,000.00 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit has finally been given the go ahead for extention. And just to make things interesting, our esteemed leaders in Washington added a twist; all homebuyers who have been in their homes for at least five years can now also get a $6,500.00 when they sell their homes too.

Under this extension, the program will have some new guidelines also. Here is a synopsis of the new changes and requirements.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

• The maximum tax credit remains $8,000 ($4,000 for married individuals filing separately), and anyone who has not owned a home within three years is considered a “First Time Home Buyer.”

Tags: legislature, mortgages, new laws, real estate

Both the Senate and House voted yesterday to extend the current higher loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA loans through December, 2010. The resolution was attached to a continuing resolution that passed late in the day and prevented the higher limits from expiring at the end of the year.

Lawmakers had temporarily raised the loan limits back in 2008 as part of the Housing and Economic Act of 2008 and then again in 2009 through both a HUD mandated guideline and the Economic Stimulus Act up to a maximum of $729,750 for high-cost areas.

To find your individual counties higher loan limits, you can read our blog post at 2009 FHA and Conforming Loan Limit Changes.

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Metro Mortgage Company is a federally regulated Mortgage Banker specializing in residential Florida mortgages including Conventional, Jumbo and FHA/VA loans. Visit our home loan approval process page for more information or call us today at 888-617-3674.

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Tags: FHA, HUD, legislature, mortgages

Just when you think you have all the bases covered in applying for your mortgage loan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have added another stumbling block into the application process. Seems some unscrupulous individuals figured out that by disputing an account claim and having a notation added to your credit report removed that tradeline from being taken
into credit scoring consideration and thus was left out of the automated loan approval process.

Now, just exactly how they were getting these disputed tradelines on credit reports past the lenders underwriting process that is supposed to occur on all automatically approved DU or LP files, were not sure. Typically, if there is any question about a tradeline, an underwriter will request more information and require documentation to verify the veracity of the disputed account. But hey, in this day and age, we guess anything is possible.

Tags: credit reports, mortgages

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced yesterday they are adopting a new Cash for Keys program whereby lenders will pay borrowers with FHA-backed loans $2,000 for agreeing to turn their property over to the lender by using a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. By applying for and getting an approved deed-in-lieu under this program, borrowers will be released from their obligation to repay the mortgage and may also have their deficiency judgment waived too.

To qualify for the program, borrowers must be facing long-term financial hardship, had their house on the market at a fair price for at least 90 days, and not have any other additional claims or liens (other than the first FHA mortgage) outstanding against the house. In addition, the borrower must vacate the property and leave it in broom clean condition.

Tags: FHA, foreclosures, HUD, mortgages

We wrote a blog post a while back about how if you are purchasing a condo in Florida, mortgage financing is tougher than ever before. Well, it just got even harder to get condo financing, thanks to a new rule set to take effect on November 1, 2009.

The new rule will put an end to “spot approvals” for condo complexes and thus make it harder for buyers to qualify for these types of property loans. The rule disallows FHA underwriter’s ability to approve individual condo units rather than an entire condo complex. The reason spot approvals were originally granted was because of the costs and paperwork involved for a condominium association to get an entire complex approved by the FHA is outrageous, costing tens of thousands of dollars for things like appraisals, structural engineering reports, audited financial reports etc. Spot approvals only required a condo or HOA representative to spend about 15 minutes filling out a one page questionaire.

Tags: FHA, Florida, HUD, mortgages

The FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation Loan program may be right up your alley if you are buying a foreclosure as your primary residence. That’s because The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is encouraging the use of its little known 203(k) loan which allows a primary owner-occupant* to borrow money for both the purchase and renovation of a property all in one loan. And, you only have to have 3.5% of the total purchase price (acquisition and repair costs) as the down payment. In addition, the program can be use to include cosmetic improvements as well as major renovations like replacing a roof or fixing up the properties plumbing or electrical systems.

Tags: FHA, foreclosures, mortgages

We often get asked a lot of questions about the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Program. Obviously, it is a little confusing to many folks. Upon reviewing our email and phone logs regarding the questions we have received, here are some explanations about the program requirements we hope you may find useful.

• For married couples, both have to qualify as first-time buyers to get the tax credit.
• For non-married couples, only one buyer has to qualify. So, in some cases it may be beneficial to buy a home before you get married.
• If both buyers qualify for the tax credit, only one of them can actually get it. There is one credit per household.

Tags: Florida, mortgages