My how things have changed over the past 12 months. Let's take a very quick look at some highlights that will be applicable to you. The Good Mortgage rates are spectacular. The 30-year fixed is in the low 6's, lower than last year and two years ago. The 5-year ARM is in the low 5's, much lower [...]...

Fannie Mae released the guidelines for conforming mortgages over $417,000 (called jumbo-conforming). The guidelines can be found here. Highlights: Full-documentation only 660+ credit score Single unit homes only (no duplex, triplex, 4-unit) 45% maximum debt-to-income ratio No cash-out refinancing 75% LTV maximum for refinances (70% for declining markets–most of Southern California) 90% LTV maximu...

HUD has now published the new conforming loan limits for 2008. You can lookup them up here. As far as I know, neither Fannie nor Freddie have adjusted their underwriting systems to allow the limits yet. Once they do, it will take a while longer for lenders to offer the new limits to customers. It [...]...

Here's a great article from Bloomberg describing how inflation fears are causing rates to rise. It also comments on future Fed action and the steepening of the yield curve....

It was a busy week for economists, policymakers, consumers and mortgage professionals. We had a surprise .75% rate cut from the Fed. We had the announcement of an economic stimulus package that included not only significant tax rebates, but a temporary increase in the conforming loan limits from $417,000 to $729,750 (a huge, huge win for Californians). We [...]...