Tag Archive for: jumbo loans

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 the 1994 amount) The median house price in 1994 was about $130,000, while it is about $455,000 today (about 3.5x the 1994 number). Today’s maximum […]Read More

Are Home Equity Lines (HELOCs) Still A Thing?

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The Prime Rate today is 6.25% – a full 3% higher than where it was last year at this time. Prime Rate is the rate that commercial banks charge their most creditworthy customers, usually large corporations. It matters to us though because it is also the rate that most Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) […]Read More

Are Rates Really Over 7%? Not Really; Rates Up 2% Since August; Surveys Lag Market

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Today’s average interest rate is 6.82% per Mortgage News Daily (about 1/2% higher than where they were last week). The average is up almost 2% from early August when it bottomed near 5% – amazingly. The average rate was in fact over 7% yesterday, but they plummeted today (and I will explain why below). The […]Read More

Cash Reserves After Closing – How Important Are They? Inflation…Or Not

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Four of our borrowers starved to death shortly after moving into their homes last year. This is because our poor borrowers had no money to buy food because most loan programs do not require any cash reserves in a buyer’s bank account after their loan closes. In other words, most loan programs allow borrowers to […]Read More

Jumbo Rates – Almost 1% LOWER Than Conforming; Going For Jumbo!

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I actually blogged about why jumbo rates are so much lower than conforming rates in April, and here are some of the other reasons: (1) Jumbo loans have stricter guidelines so they are less risky; (2) Jumbo loans have tighter appraisal requirements – again impacting risk; (3) Big banks that fund or buy jumbo loans are desperate for yield and will take what they can get; and (4) Jumbo lenders want to establish relationships with well-off borrowers and will fund loans at a loss in pursuit of those borrowers.Read More

Our Massive Jumbo Niche & How It Benefits You!

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The median home value in many of our core markets is well in excess of $1 million! As a result – we were FORCED to become “Jumbo Financing Experts” because conforming (Fannie/Freddie) loans in coastal California are about as rare as California Condors. And – IT WAS PAINFUL! It was painful because every jumbo investor […]Read More

Why Lenders HATE Jumbo & Why JVM’s Jumbo Rates Are SO LOW

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JVM FHA OFFER ACCEPTED OVER CASH OFFER As a brief aside – one of our clients recently had his 14-day-close FHA offer accepted over an all-cash offer – at the same price. Why? The listing agent knew our reputation and knew the appraisal would not be an issue (b/c of comps and b/c our buyer […]Read More

Conventional vs. Conforming vs. Government vs. Jumbo Loans; Bias For Action

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CINNABON STORY – BIAS FOR ACTION I heard this story on a podcast a few months back and just had to share it. When Cinnabon first started, they could only afford to lease very small spaces that required them to place their ovens in front; as a result, passersby could easily smell the aroma when […]Read More

How To Qualify For A Mortgage If You Owe Taxes

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OWING TAXES: BAD NEWS & GOOD NEWS I recently blogged about why borrowers should sometimes file extensions instead of tax returns and briefly touched on whether or not borrowers can obtain mortgages if they owe taxes. This blog expands on that topic, as many borrowers have substantial tax liabilities that can threaten their ability to […]Read More

“Reserves” – Why & When They Are SO IMPORTANT!

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WHY TWO NEARLY IDENTICAL BORROWERS GOT 1/2% DIFFERENT RATES We recently had two nearly identical borrowers get rate quotes that were 1/2% different on the same day they were quoted and here’s why: I often blog about The 13 Factors That Influence A Borrower’s Mortgage Rate. And the above two borrowers were nearly identical for […]Read More

Offer Rent-Backs To Get Offers Accepted; ARMS Are Back!

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ONE MORE REASON JUMBO RATES ARE LOWER THAN CONFORMING After reading this recent blog, a friend of mine who owns a mortgage bank reminded me of one more reason why jumbo rates are lower than conforming rates. Big banks will sometimes buy loans at a loss because they expect to make money by “cross-selling” other […]Read More

Buying A Home For Your Child – Options?

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WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO BUY A HOME FOR YOUR CHILD? This is a question we see quite often so I thought I’d list the options. No Mas “FHA Kiddie Condo” Loans. This used to be a very flexible option where FHA allowed parents to put down only 3.5% in order to help kids […]Read More

Jumbo Mortgages – Why Are They So Much Less Profitable?

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We are great at funding jumbo loans – which is a blessing and a curse. “Jumbo loans” are any loans that exceed conforming (Fannie/Freddie) loan limits for a given area. Our jumbo skill is a blessing b/c it enables us to service our many jumbo clients and maintain relationships with our many agent partners in […]Read More

JVM Aligns With New Mortgage Bank; The Need For Speed & Jumbo!

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We recently aligned with a new mortgage bank for three reasons: (1) to drastically shorten our closing periods; (2) to offer even lower rates; and (3) to access much better jumbo options. We have nothing against our former mortgage bank at all, as we simply were not a good fit for their model and we […]Read More

Why “Now” Is Always The Best Time To Refi; Jumbo Returns :)

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GREAT NEWS – JUMBO HAS RETURNED! As expected and hoped for, one of our best jumbo investors returned to the market today with far lower rates. We are now very close to where we were prior to the COVID-19 crisis. WHY “NOW” IS A GOOD TIME TO REFI – IT IS NOT JUST B/C WE […]Read More

Forbearances Explained; ≠ Free Lunch; Mortgage Industry In Panic Mode

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The entire Mortgage Industry is in a state of panic right now. This is b/c so many potential borrowers could skip or miss payments, and b/c the Fed is pushing mortgage rates down too quickly and putting enormous financial pressure on mortgage lenders. Mortgage lenders and servicers are both facing enormous losses for a variety […]Read More

Jumbo Loans in Dallas, Texas

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Jumbo loans are becoming increasingly popular (and necessary) for Dallas homebuyers. This is mostly due in part to the rising costs of homes in Texas. What is a Jumbo Loan? A jumbo loan is a loan that exceeds a particular county’s loan limits. For most areas in Texas, the conventional loan limits range from $100,000 […]Read More

Jumbo Loans in California

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Jumbo loans are becoming increasingly popular for California homebuyers. This is mostly due in part to the rising costs of homes in the state. The median price for a single-family home in the San Francisco Bay Area hit $1.7 million recently. As a result, increasingly more homebuyers in California are having to use jumbo loans […]Read More

HUGE NEWS: We Lowered Our Rates By 3/8%! Especially JUMBO Rates! How & Why We Did It

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“BIG BANK RATES WITH JVM SERVICE” No other mortgage bank anywhere can make that claim. We are now offering $1 Million JUMBO Loans at 4.25%* at NO POINTS! (No mortgage bank that I know of can make that claim either.) But, JVM can make both of these claims because we have aligned multiple new investors. […]Read More

“Jumbo” Market Is Now Back; Good News For Many Reasons

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The Jumbo market for loans over $625,500 (over $417,000 in some cases) has been “coming back” for the last couple years. Jumbo loans were never fully able to compete to with conventional loans on a rate basis until recently. We now have Jumbo sources that almost match high balance ($417,000 to $625,500) conventional loan rates. […]Read More