Some good news (finally) for Orange County, CA FHA borrowers - FHA has eased the appraisal requirements for “high balance” loans. A High Balance loan in Orange County is considered to be any loan over $417,000, up to $729,750. Under the guidelines that have been in place since FHA began offering High Balance loan amounts in 2008, if the loan to value was higher than 95%, then 2 appraisals were required. Mortgagee Letter 2009-48 Eliminates Need for Second Appraisal Mortgagee Letter... Read Full Story

The Energy Efficient Mortgage can be added to an Oregon FHA203b but more likely an FHA203k. This Energy Efficient Mortgage gives the borrower/buyer the ability to add an additional $8,000 to their mortgage for energy related upgrades. It is available on a purchase or a refinance and should be a really great deal, however, I have found that the actual implementation might be troublesome. Cost versus benefit may not pencil out in the long run. This comes from the FHA Homes and Communities websi... Read Full Story

Announcing Two New Assistance Programs for Grand Prairie and Rockwall Counties City of Grand Prairie  The Foreclosed Home Purchase Assistance Grant Program (FHPAG) assists qualified low, moderate and middle-income families to purchase foreclosed homes in Grand Prairie. The Program is administered through the city of Grand Prairie Housing and Neighborhood Services Department. The FHPAG program provides up to a $20,000 forgivable second lien to assist qualified buyers with approved closing cos... Read Full Story

As of November 6, 2009 there are recent changes to the $8000 and $6500 FHA First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, which include move-up buyers, new income limits and extension dates. ____________ Changes that went into effect on November 6th, 2009: The $8,000 tax credit is for first-time home buyers only. For the tax credit program, the IRS defines a first-time home buyer as someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. To be eligible to cl... Read Full Story

Did you know that it’s possible to finance a mobile home or manufactured home with an FHA loan?  If you’re in the real estate industry, you probably did but if you’re reading this as a consumer you probably did not know that!  Mobile homes are generally much lower cost than convention stick-built construction and the FHA realizes that this affordable housing option is an important demographic to hit. Traditionally, mobile home loans come in two varities: those that are treat... Read Full Story

We are getting a lot of questions in our Mortgage Questions section and over the next few weeks either here or on one of my three blog sites, No Money Down, FHA Loans and Eugeneloanguy I will be answers some of the questions posted. I am hoping that by answering questions posed by the public we can get better information out there than what we have been seeing on the internet. There are a lot of myths and fallacies on the internet, just take a look a previous post of mine to see what I am tal... Read Full Story

First time home buyers are not the only ones with reason to celebrate. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was recently extended through 2010, includes the $8,000 credit for first time home buyers through April 2010 and includes a provision which allows current homeowners shopping for a new primary residence to apply for a $6,500 tax credit if they owned their current home for five consecutive years in the previous eight. Real estate experts think that by including curre... Read Full Story

Be Prepared! Alpine Mortgage USDA Guaranteed Home Loans are underwritten by our in-house underwriting staff which saves time in the process. However, after a USDA loan is approved, the next step is for USDA to issue their approval of the loan, since they are the providing the guarantee. This is similar to what happens when a mortgage insurance company require loans to be submitted to and approved by them prior to insuring the loan. Because this is an extra step in the process and USDA is cu... Read Full Story

President Obama has signed a bill that extends the tax credit for California first-time homebuyers (FTHBs) into the first half of 2010. This program had been scheduled to expire on November 30, 2009 for FHA FTHB’s. In addition to extending the tax credit of up to $8,000 through June 30, 2010, the extension measure also opens up opportunities for all California FHA borrowers who are not buying a home for the first time. So Who Gets What? The program that has existed for FTHBs remains ... Read Full Story

Top 10 Things to Know if You’re Interested in a Reverse Mortgage By Laurie Willis Reverse mortgages are becoming popular in America. HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) created one of the first. The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) is FHA’s reverse mortgage program which enables you to withdraw some of the equity in your home. The HECM is a safe plan that can give older Americans greater financial security. Many seniors use it to supplement social security, meet unexpected medica... Read Full Story