Conforming Loans

Conventional loans may be conforming and non-conforming. Conforming loans have terms and conditions that follow the guidelines set forth by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two stockholder-owned corporations purchase mortgage loans complying with the guidelines from mortgage lending institutions, packages the mortgages into securities and sell the securities to investors. By doing so, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, provide a continuous flow of affordable funds for home financing that results in the availability of mortgage credit for Americans.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines establish the maximum loan amount, borrower credit and income requirements, down payment, and suitable properties. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announces new loan limits every year.

The 2008 conforming loan limits for first mortgages remain at the limits set in 2007:
One-family:$417,000
Two-family:$533,850
Three-family:$645,300
Four-family:$801,950

Jumbo Loans
Loans above the maximum loan amount established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are known as 'jumbo' loans. Because jumbo loans are bought and sold on a much smaller scale, they often have a little higher interest rate than conforming, but the spread between the two varies with the economy.
If you are looking for a jumbo loan and need more information or advice, we invite you to take advantage of our database of the most competitive lenders available. Just complete a short rate request form and we will contact you with the best program and rate combination available!

Fixed Rate Mortgages
With a fixed rate mortgage (FRM) loan the interest rate and your mortgage monthly payments remain fixed for the period of the loan. Fixed-rate mortgages are available for 40, 30, 25, 20, 15 years and 10 years. Generally, the shorter the term of a loan, the lower the interest rate you could get.
The most popular mortgage terms are 30 and 15 years. With the traditional 30-year fixed rate mortgage your monthly payments are lower than they would be on a shorter term loan. But if you can afford higher monthly payments a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage allows you to repay your loan twice as faster and save more than half the total interest costs of a 30-year loan.

With a bi-weekly mortgage plan, you pay half of the monthly mortgage payment every 2 weeks. It allows you to repay a loan much faster. For example, a 30 year loan can be paid off within 22 to 23 years.
     

Interest Only Mortgage Option: The loan product commonly called 'Interest Only Mortgage' is an interest-only payment option which is offered on fixed rate (FRM) or adjustable rate (ARM) mortgages. The option to pay 'interest-only' lets you pay only the interest portion of your monthly payment for a fixed period (three, five, seven or ten years). At the end of that period your loan becomes fully amortized, thus resulting in greatly increased monthly payments. Your new payment will be larger than it would have been if it had been fully amortizing from the beginning. The longer the interest only period, the larger the new payment will be when the interest only period ends.
Example
If a 30-year fixed rate loan of $350,000 at 7% has interest only payments for 5 years, the payment during the interest only period is $2,625.00. Starting in month 61, the payment is $3,180.51. The fully amortizing payment (the payment that, if maintained over the term of the loan, will pay it off completely) would be $2,993.86. So in order to reduce your payment by $368.86 for the first 5 years, you pay an additional $186.65 for the next 25 years.
Interest only payment plans are for borrowers who expect to earn a lot more in a few years and want to maximize their buying power now or who will invest the difference between an interest only and an amortizing mortgage payments, and who are confident that these investments will make money.
Advantages:
+ During the interest only term your monthly payments are as low as they can possibly get;
+ You can qualify for a larger loan amount, maybe even a larger home;
+ During the interest only term you won't pay out cash to build equity;
+ Make investments with payment difference to potentially build your net worth;
+ The entire monthly payment qualifies as tax-deductible interest during the interest only period.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM)
Variable or adjustable rate loans are loans whose interest rate, and accordingly monthly payments, fluctuate over the period of the loan. With this type of mortgage, periodic adjustments based on changes in a defined index are made to the interest rate. The index for your particular loan is established at the time of application. Most ARM’s are fixed for a period of time in the beginning and then adjust once every year thereafter. They are amortized over 30 years. The most common ARM is a 5/1, which means the rate is fixed for 5 years and then can adjust every year thereafter for the remaining 25 years. An interest-only option can be added to an adjustable rate mortgage for a reduced payment.