Conventional and FHA loan limits have been raised to $567,500 in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
Before this, if your Conventional loan amount exceeded $417,000 you were into a Jumbo Loan with higher rates...often over a full percentage point more. The difference in actual dollars could be substantial---one website has today's rates as a 5.89% fixed rate for a Conventional loan vs. 7.05% for a Jumbo. Easily could turn out to be thousands and thousands of dollars of difference.
FHA, on the other hand, is a wonderful resource for people who have credit challenges and/or low cash reserves. Up until now the FHA limit was $362,790. Increasing that to $567,500 opens up a whole new world of possibilities to an entire segment of buyers who thought they were left behind by the collapse of sup-prime lending. Watch for a great resurgence of FHA loans in the area.
All that plus some seriously good deals on the market make this a historically good time to be a buyer of Seattle area real estate.
The above loan limits are set to expire at the end of 2008, but many feel they will be extended.
Date: 2008-03-17 18:46:24