Arizona Real Estate Notebook

Below is the body of an email I received from a lender friend.

Minimum downpayment is now 3.5%

- can come from family members,

- cannot come from seller or any person that benefits financially from transaction, or down payment asistance

Mortgage insurance for FHA is made up of two parts the upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) and the monthly premium

- non first time home buyers goes to 3% (was 1.5% or dependent on FICO score)

- first time home buyers goes to 2.25% if they attend a class

- 1 year moratorium on risk based pricing – until Oct 1,2008

Loan limit

- this is still undecided but will depend on the median home price and what HUD determines that is. NAR is currently suggesting that our limit will be $318,550

- we are at $346,250 until the end of the year from the last bill that was passed. Good news for those doing business in Flagstaff, NAR suggests the loan limit goes to $414,000 and for Prescott the suggestion is $358,800. But these numbers are not set in stone

Change is constant in our world – one more item to digest.

Take care.

Robyn Robertson

Suburban Mortgage Inc.

8377 Hartford Drive, Suite 120,

Scottsdale Az 85255

Phone 480 355 8106

Fax 480 344 7937

Cell 480 415 2336

Shailesh’s take on how to take advantage of the new mortgage legislation in general is here.