The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently announced that the maximum loan limits on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA mortgages are increasing in 2018
The FHA requires a 3.5% down payment. The FHA program remains the most popular loan program for first time home buyers due in part to its lower down payment requirement, and in part due to its leniency with credit issue. The pris (compared to a 5% down Fannie/Freddie loan) are that the FHA requires a non-trivial up front fee that is rolled into the loan and the monthly PMI on an FHA loan lasts all 30 years rather than dropping off when you get to 20% equity as with Fannie/Freddie loans.
For borrowers who want to do zero down payment the options become more limited and more costly. The USDA and VA programs allow for no money down but both come with restrictions and caveats that exclude a large portion of borrowers (see here for more on that). You’ll often see advertisements from lenders for no money down programs but these “down payment assistance programs” programs are usually just FHA loans with assistance with the 3.5% down and they invariably come at a cost – usually in the form of much higher interest rates and higher fees. The problem with that is they can cost you much more in the long term. Weiterlesen