As promised, and actually required, by the Economic Stimulus Bill of 2008, FHA/HUD announced their new loan amounts this past week. The new FHA loan limits are based on 125% increases of each county’s median price with a minmum of $271,050 and a maximum of $729,750.

This one move will make it much easier for many who are burdened with an adjustable rate mortgage to refinance if their property has not appreciate much over the past few years. FHA will allow for a refinance of up to 97% loan to value, whereas 99.99999% of lenders will now go up to only 90% loan to value.

Another great benfit of FHA is that they are much, much more forgiving of a few dings in your credit profile. Conventional lenders have clamped down on credit quality dramatically in the past few months. FHA underwriting will also allow for less structured income and less time on a given job.

I’ll be back with more soon! Thanks for reading and for your comments.