|
Bruce McCoy
|
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced that conforming loan limits were staying the same as last year at $417,000 for a single family residence. California, and other high cost areas, were not raised to the $625,000 that are effective in Hawaii and Alaska.
In a seperate announcement the two agencies also announced that they are moving to risk based pricing with lower credit scores being charged higher rates/fees. Credit scores under 680 (mid score) will be charged additional fees ranging from .75 to 2.00 points.
Jumbo interest rates (mortgages over $417,000) have eased in the last few days to the mid-6% range for the 3,5 and 7 year adjustables. These are mortgages whose interest rates are fixed for the first 3,5 or 7 years then adjust after that time depending on the index and margins. As you can imagine, the lowest rates are for full income and asset documentation. Yes, the lenders are requiring any and all questions that they may have to be answered; and qualified borrowers are being approved. People who are trying to buy in Santa Cruz County are finally able to find financing to buy homes. After all, a conforming loan (under $417,000) isn’t much help for homebuyers just getting into our pool!
I still haven’t heard anything about the proposed increase in loan limits for California and other high priced areas. When I do, I will post it on our web site www.mountaincoast.com. With the meltdown of the credit markets currently going on, Citigroup was recently downgraded on an anticipated additional $15 billion in loan losses, if you have ANY doubts about your current home financing call me and we can see explore if there are any “more better” options available for you.
Fixed Rate Mortgages for conforming loans (under $417,000) as of 11/20/07 (a.m.) are:
(Rates quoted are for 0 point loans, subtract a half point in rate for 2 points in fee)
30 year fixed: 6.25% (APR 6.31%) payments are $2,567.54/mo.
15 year fixed: 5.875% (APR 5.98%) payments are $3,490.78/mo.