Tag Archive for: freddie mac

Fannie & Freddie Supporting Agent Commissions, But…Has Anything Changed?

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FHA allows buyers to finance their upfront mortgage insurance premium (MIP) equal to 1.75% of the loan amount. So, while FHA loans are ostensibly 96.5% loan-to-value, they are effectively around 98.2% loan-to-value loans because almost every FHA loan includes the financed upfront MIP. Read More

ADU/In-Law/Guest Cottage Financing – Part Deux

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I have been blogging about ADUs repeatedly over the last few years because states and local governments are so aggressively encouraging their construction – as a way to solve our […]Read More

Mortgages After Bankruptcies – Easy to Get! Jobs Report Nonsense Again

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Mortgage rates shot through the roof this morning in response to a very strong jobs report! This is exactly what I predicted would happen in my blog yesterday, as the official BLS jobs reports always come out stronger than expected - particularly in January - before getting revised downward in later months.Read More

2024 Conforming Loan Limits Way UP – At the Expense of Your Kids; Fed Lost Control of Bond Market?

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The FHFA (the agency that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) just announced its new conforming loan limits, and the new limit for “high-cost” areas is now $1,149,825! This means that homebuyers can buy a $1.2 million home with only 5% down. This is amazing, as this used to be solidly in “jumbo territory” – with down payment requirements in the 20% range for competitive financing.Read More

2024 Conforming Loan Limits Just Announced!

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced an $40,350 increase in the baseline conforming loan limit for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $766,550 in 2024. This represents a 5.5% increase from the 2023 conforming loan limit of $726,200.Read More

When Huge Lots Kill Transactions; What Are The Rules & Solutions?

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Mortgage lenders won’t go near lot loans for many reasons – and here are a few: (1) regulators, investors, and creditors prohibit them from doing lot loans; and (2) lot loans are much riskier – which is a main reason why regulators, etc. won’t let mortgage lenders do lot loans. Lot loans are riskier because land values are more volatile; land is much less liquid as collateral; it is harder to generate income from land; zoning issues are more prevalent; and more expertise is required to understand and exploit land values in general.Read More

Government Shutdowns – Much Ado About Very Little; The Impact of Shutdowns!

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It looks like we averted another government shutdown at the 11th hour over the weekend. While shutdowns do impact people within the government, they do not actually impact the rest of us that much. The media like to make a big deal of out shutdowns because their biggest impact is often making one of the political parties look worse in the eyes of voters, and thus impacting elections.Read More

The Appraisal Type Everyone Should Avoid at All Costs! 5 Appraisal Types

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Today’s blog was written by JVM’s Appraisal Manager, Taylor Allen. She orders our appraisals, manages our appraisal team, carefully curates and manages our huge stable of appraisers, reviews appraisals, rebuts appraisals, […]Read More

Refinancing Is Now Way More Expensive – Or More Difficult

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This short IG video, titled “Refinancing Is Going To Be More Expensive Than Ever” was making the rounds on social media recently. We were getting questions, so I decided to blog about it. It is a good video, but the gentleman is only about half right.Read More

Fannie Mae Is Making Strong Borrowers Subsidize Weak Borrowers

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The interest rates for many “strong borrowers” will now be anywhere from 1/8% to as much as 1/4% HIGHER than they otherwise would be – if Fannie and Freddie had not imposed these changes.Read More

Who Buys Loans From Mortgage Banks; How It Works & Why It Matters

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Most mortgages in America are funded by “mortgage banks” – which are entities that solely originate, underwrite, and fund mortgages; they do not hold deposits or do any of the […]Read More

Loan Buybacks Are Surging and DANGEROUS!

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Russian Mobster Sending Me Lots of Business Around 2004, an agent referred a Russian gentleman to me for a purchase. He was very wealthy, very well-dressed, very polished, very serious […]Read More

2023 Conforming Loan Limits Surge To Over $1 MILLION! Some Interesting Perspective

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1994’s Limit Was $203,150 When I got into the mortgage business in 1994, the conforming loan limit was $203,150. Adjusting for inflation, that is about $408,000 today (almost exactly 2x […]Read More

Fannie Mae Made Rates WAY LOWER for First-Time Homebuyers!

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In mid-November, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made homebuying ridiculously less expensive for many, if not most first-time homebuyers! And – I was remiss for not blogging about it […]Read More