Category: Michigan Mortgage Banker
The Differences Between FHA and Conventional Mortgages
The two most common types of mortgages customers ask about are the FHA and Conventional mortgages. And at their core, they are both very similar. They are both a type of loan which provides money to purchase a house. They both determine eligibility through debt to income and loan to value ratios, they both use […]
What is the Preapproval Process For a Mortgage?
Many of my customers looking to buy a home come to me with some vague notion that they need a preapproval, but are unsure of what this really means. Some think it is a binding letter which means they are in an agreement with me for a specific dollar amount and that it can’t be […]
What is the USDA Rural Development Guaranteed Loan Program?
The USDA Rural Development Single Family Residence Guaranteed Loan Program is a loan program designed by the USDA to help bring home buyers into areas deemed rural. This program allows for 100% financing with no down payment requirement, flexible credit guidelines, and you can include closing costs and repair costs in the loan. This is […]
MSHDA Down Payment Assistance
The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) created a program to help first time home buyers buy a home. This program offers up to $7500 to borrowers to act as a down payment, helping buyers purchase a home with no money out of pocket. This down payment assistance is great for anyone interested in buying […]
What is a HomePath Mortgage?
There is some buzz in the mortgage world about Fannie Mae’s HomePath program. It is a program I am often asked about, and have heard some pretty interesting misinformation that my clients have received from friends, family, and the internet. At its core, it is a program to help sell foreclosures currently owned by Fannie […]
What is a VA Mortgage?
There is a special mortgage type for active duty military, reservists, and veterans, called a VA mortgage. This mortgage works nothing like a conventional or FHA mortgage, as it does not rely on traditional debt to income calculations and has much more forgiving credit qualifications. It was a mortgage program designed by the government to […]
What is an FHA 203k Mortgage?
So we’ve discussed conventional and FHA mortgages, but an important type of FHA mortgage is the FHA 203k mortgage. The FHA 203k mortgage was created to help people buy houses which need repairs. Prior to the 203k loans, lenders were becoming increasingly strict when it came to lending on a house which needed work. But with the […]
What is An FHA Mortgage?
In my last post, I discussed what a conventional loan is. But for many customers who do not qualify for a conventional mortgage, or who do not want to put as much money down on a house, going with an FHA mortgage might make more sense. An FHA loan is a government backed loan with […]
What is a Conventional Mortgage?
One of the first questions I am asked by my customers is: “what type of mortgage is best for me?” And to answer that question, I will usually ask them a series of questions to get a better understanding of their needs. After we go through this exercise, I will lay out several options, and […]
Mortgage Basics
The most important first step in buying a house is determining what you can afford and what type of mortgage makes the most sense for you. So, it seemed a good idea to explain what is involved in qualifying for a mortgage and what some of the basic terms mean. For starters, it is important […]