The federal housing department has released the new limits on Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages. (And, on Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac loans, as well.)
Now, get borrowing! Our country’s future (well, mine at least) depends on it.
BOSTON-SUFFOLK
Single-family: $523,750
Two-family: $670,500
Three-family: $810,450
Four-family: $1,007,200
Good news: if you’re buying in Nantucket, the conforming loan limit is even higher.
Source: Housing & […]

Well, here’s just about everything you need to know about getting a mortgage loan, courtesy of the State of California’s Department of Corporations. The publication includes much more detailed information on each of these. I suggest printing it out and keeping a copy.
1) Do you represent a mortgage broker, mortgage banker or lender, […]

It’s a great time to buy. Right?
Plenty of people are buying homes, right now. You’d think otherwise, if you read the papers.
Anyway, the Globe had a great article yesterday on how to get a mortgage. It also covered all the new and proposed regulations coming our way thanks to the kind people […]

The President and Congress seem prepared to act to infuse the US economy with much needed liquidity.
First up, rebates. Yay. I’m spending mine, are you? In fact, I’ve already spent mine. Have you?
Second up, raising conforming loan limits.
You’ve probably already heard about this, and/or read about it, elsewhere. I have, […]

Yesterday, mega-superstar columnist Holden Lewis held an online chat with readers of Boston.com.
Holden writes the popular and important blog, Mortgage Matters, on Bankrate.com.
The transcript of the chat can be found on Boston.com.
Here’s Holden’s initial thoughts about the chat:
Whew! That was quite a workout, doing that chat on Boston.com this afternoon. (I’ll post a link to […]

Wondering what your monthly mortgage loan payment will be?
There’s an easy way to figure it out, that doesn’t involve an Excel spreadsheet.
Here it is:
rate per thousand
4.000 4.77
4.125 4.85
4.250 4.92
4.375 4.99
4.500 5.07
4.625 5.14
4.750 5.22
4.875 5.29
5.000 5.37
5.125 5.44
5.250 5.52
5.375 5.60
5.500 5.68
5.625 5.76
5.750 5.84
5.875 5.92
6.000 6.00
6.125 6.08
6.250 6.16
6.375 6.24
6.500 6.32
6.625 6.40
6.750 6.48
6.875 6.57
7.000 6.65
7.125 6.74
7.250 6.82
7.375 6.91
7.500 6.99
7.625 7.08
7.750 7.16
7.875 7.25
8.000 7.34
8.125 7.42
8.250 7.51
8.375 7.60
8.500 7.69
8.625 7.78
8.750 7.87
8.875 7.96
9.000 8.05
9.125 8.14
9.250 8.23
9.375 8.32
9.500 8.41
9.625 8.50
9.750 8.59
9.875 8.68
10.00 8.77
Start with your loan amount (not your purchase amount, silly, the amount you’re going to borrow). Drop the “thousands”.
Multiply that number by the number […]

Happy 2008.
If you already own your home and are making payments (what, you haven’t defaulted? what’s wrong with you?), you might wonder, what will happen if I make an extra payment toward the principal balance?
Answer is, it varies, depending on the top of loan you have.
Sadly, if you have a fixed-rate loan and make an […]

Mortgage lenders:
Are most loans made these days “non-recourse”?
I guess I assumed almost all of them are.
Never really thought about it.
With a non-recourse loan, if you decide to stop paying your home loan, you can pretty much walk away, your loan is “forgiven”, and you go on with your life.
Otherwise, if you walk away from your […]

Maybe you read today that GMAC Carlson is closing 14 of its Massachusetts offices.
Ouch.
As the articles mention, almost all real estate agents are paid on commission, meaning there is little cost to keeping them on-board.
Therefore, those who lost their “jobs” are support staff and office managers.
But, it may surprise you that, while some companies are […]

As most everyone knows, the rate on your typical 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will follow the 10-year Treasury Note.
Adjustable-rate mortgages, however, are most often pegged to other indexes (indices?).
You’d hope (especially if you held one of those loans) that your loan would go down (and up) based on the Fed Funds rate, which just dropped to […]