Blog

Unsecured family loan

Both FHA loans and Home Possible loans (but not Home Ready loans) allow a relative to provide an unsecured loan for a buyer’s down payment or closing costs. Fannie Mae disallows loans from family members unless it’s secured against collateral. Learn more: https://alexjaffe.com/family-lending For a Home Possible loan, the loan term needs to be greater than…

Read More

1st Time Advantage

Maryland Mortgage Program has numerous loan programs, and 1st Time Advantage is the most common Maryland Mortgage Program product we offer, because it comes with a down payment assistance loan of up to 5% of the loan amount.  This program is for first time buyers in Maryland and is available throughout the state.  1st Time…

Read More

Appraisal Waiver

  Many buyers and agents ask if it’s possible to purchase without an appraisal.  Or, if they can waive an appraisal contingency in their contract without increasing their risk. The appraisal waiver / value acceptance can help with that – and here’s how it works. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government entities) require we upload…

Read More

2024 Limits

Each year the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announces changes to loan limits based on changes to average home prices.  For 2024, loan limits effective and available today are Conforming: $766,550 Conforming Jumbo: $1,149,825 See announcement here: https://www.fhfa.gov/Media/PublicAffairs/Pages/FHFA-Announces-Conforming-Loan-Limit-Values-for-2024.aspx These numbers are increases from the 2023 numbers of $726k & $1,089k. A conforming loan allows 3% down…

Read More

Multi-Unit 5% Down

With a conventional loan we are now able to finance primary residence multi-unit properties of 2-4 units with 5% down without income limits/caps! Prior to today (10/5/23), if a buyer wanted to put only 5% down on a multi-unit, their income would need to be under 80% of area median income ($120k in DC and…

Read More