About Government Refinance and Home Purchase Programs

The FHA released the details of the new, lower cost FHA mortgage insurance program (MIP) that President Obama announced last week. The new program will begin Jan. 26, 2015 and will reduce cost of the monthly FHA mortgage insurance payments significantly.

Currently, FHA mortgage insurance on most 30 year fixed FHA loans is at a rate of 1.35% per year. With the new guidelines, the mortgage insurance rate will be 0.85% per year. On a $200,000 FHA loan, that is a savings of $84 per month, or about $1000 per year.

If you are looking to buy a home, you should be able to start the pre-qualification process now. As long as the FHA case number is pulled on January 26th or later you’ll get the new, lower MIP rate. Contact us on our home purchase page for that.

If you have an FHA loan now, this is a good time to look into streamlining your FHA loan to a lower interest rate and take advantage of the lower MIP. The FHA streamline refinance program is extremely user friendly and can result in tremendous savings. If you have a non-FHA loan now, a cash out FHA refinance can make sense as well in some cases. Contact us in the sidebar for more info on FHA refinance programs.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Julian Castro, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that President Obama plans to announce a reduction in the monthly mortgage insurance fees for FHA loans. The FHA currently charges 1.35% per year in mortgage insurance fees. The new rate will reportedly be 0.85% per year, a full 0.5% reduction. This will be the equivalent of a 0.5% reduction in interest rates for FHA mortgage holders and could mean savings of up to thousands of dollars per year.

The announcement is expected to come from the President in a speech in Phoenix on Thursday. Many of the details of the pending change are still unknown, like if current FHA loan holders will need to refinance through the FHA streamline program to get the new lower mortgage insurance rate. But there is no doubt that this will be a boon to FHA loan holders and to potential home buyers.

We’ll keep you updated with more information as it comes out.

To learn more or to get started on a government-backed mortgage, contact us today.

The downward trend in mortgage interest rates that we saw at the end of 2014 has continued in 2015. Rates continue to creep lower and lower. Global market factors like the drop in oil prices have, in a roundabout way, helped add downward pressure on mortgage interest rates. As a result, we are currently seeing the lowest mortgage rates in nearly two years. If this downward trend continues we could soon match the lows we saw in late 2012 and early 2013.

Of course there is no telling how long these low rates will persist. Contact us in the sidebar today to get an estimate on a government-backed refinance. Reducing your mortgage interest rate could lead to significant savings. Or if you are looking into purchasing a home, contact us on our home purchase page right away.