The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the conforming loan limit will remain $417,000 for 2009 for most areas in the U.S. but specified higher limits in certain cities and counties. The conforming loan limit is the maximum size of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can purchase in 2009.According to provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), the national loan limit is set based on changes in average home prices over the previous year, but cannot decline from year to year. Loan limits for two-, three-, and four-unit properties in 2009 will remain at 2008 levels as well: $533,850, $645,300, and $801,950 respectively, for homes in the continental U.S.
In addition to a table containing a list of all conforming loan limits for all U.S. counties and statistically equivalent areas, to the right you will find a link to a list showing only those areas where 2009 loan limits are set by the high-cost area provisions in HERA.Just wanted to keep you posted on the breaking news - if you have any questions or if I can be of any service to you or your clients, please don’t hesitate to call or email me right now!
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I was speaking to a colleague yesterday who had no idea about the new tax credit that is in effect for first time homebuyers who purchase between April 2008 and July 1 2009. I thought I would put this info out there for anyone who hasn’t yet heard about this either.
“First time homebuyer” as defined by the IRS is anyone who hasn’t owned property in the previous 3 years. Most buyers in the Portland/Vancouver metro area will qualify for the maximum credit amount of $7500.00. If you are thinking about buying soon, this is a GREAT reason to close prior to the end of this calendar year. If you do, you can immediately file your taxes and collect that $7500.00 as soon as January. If you wait until after January 1st… you still qualify for that credit, but you will not receive it until you file your 2009 taxes… IN 2010! So you’ll have to wait quite a while for that.
Now this isn’t exactly FREE MONEY from Uncle Sam, it does have to be repaid. BUT there is a 2 year grace period, after which the money is deducted from future tax returns at $500 per year until the balance is repaid. So it is a ZERO interest loan from the government essentially, and can have a great effect toward making property improvements, or funding your IRA…. Please contact me for more ideas about how this stimulus money can be best utilized.
More information about this program can be found HERE.
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We’ve had alternating weeks of High Rates- and Low Rates for 4 weeks now! Its hard to express just how strange this market is. The fluctuation in mortgage pricing that happens now in a 48 hour period used to take WEEKS! The good news is that we seem to be trending more towards the GOOD rates right now. Heading back towards 6% on a fixed rate.
In the second half of October the markets were acting like they were literally broken. Normally there is a corresponding relationship between equity markets and the bond markets- when one goes up the other goes down. In October we just saw EVERYTHING go down. All markets were selling all things, with seemingly no takers. What I’m seeing now, is that relationship returning. The stock market is in the tank, big money is leaving stocks and getting “parked” in bonds, which effectively lowers interest rates on long term mortgages.
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The last few weeks have been the most volitile in modern history, with regards to our economy. The 24 hr news channels have been doing an admirable job of attempting to explain what is happening, what has caused it, and how we have arrived here. I would like to direct you to a link to what I think is hands down the single best explanation of our current economic status. It is a link to a recent episode of NPR’s “This American Life”. The episode is titled “Another frightening show about the economy”. What is great about it is that they have 2 wall street experts lay out exactly what is happening, in a clear and completely apolitical manner. As good as the networks try to be regarding bias, they are all owned by huge corporations and can only get away with talking about so much.
Please download this show and make time to listen to it. I assure you that it will be time well spent and you will learn something valuable. DOWNLOAD PODCAST
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What a week in the financial sector for our country, and the whole modern world. There are a lot of complicated issues impacting the markets simultaneously. The reaction of the US Treasury, and now the President and Congress has been remarkably swift.
Part of my website is a link to an information service called the Mortgage Market Guide. Generally, it is fairly technical in nature, but this weeks update is a very clear and concise summary of just what is going on this weekend, and what it means to all of us. Instead of me attempting to explain, I think the best thing I can do for you is to provide you that link.
http://www.mmgweekly.com/w/index.html?SID=945cb3d3ae94d74b3d9246728a21c5b7
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