Well I usually talk about rates, but it looks like over the last 2 weeks rates have really found a narrow trading range, meaning they really are not jumping much.

Government rates are in the high 4's while conventional rates have been in the high 4's to low 5's.

But what has really changed is some guidelines, for the better!

FHA Down to 580?

First of all, we now have lenders that will do FHA loans down to 580 FICO scores, YES believe it or not 580, not this will require 3.5-5.0% down. But we can go up to a 45% Debt to income ratio!

AND there is no interest rate hits for the lower scores!!!

97% Conventional!

Yes, we can go conventional financing now to 97%. The MI is a little higher 1.15% which is a little higher than FHA .90%, but the Conventional Financing DOES NOT require the 1% Up Front Mortgage Insurance.

Grants Still Available!

Don't forget, Idaho Housing still has (up to) $8,000 Grants available for income qualified people, 1st time home buyers or single mom/dads. So have a 600 FICO score, go FHA, Purchase a $120,000 home, Need 3.5% or $4200, EASY, get a $4200 GRANT. Oh, you can use the other $3800 for closing costs!

FHA 203K Loans!!!!!

The most exciting program to come out!

Home buyers can now get money to fix up REO properties:

-New Carpet
-New Appliances
-New Waterheater
-New HVAC
-New Fixtures
-New Paint
-New Deck/Patio
-Bathroom remodel
-Kitchen remodel

IHA is rolling out this GREAT program that will allow a client up to $35,000 or 10% of purchase price to repair, remodel, update.

So ever say a REO that all the carpet was gone and said "I wish I had the money to put new carpet in" Well now you do!

Flier and complete details coming out next week!

Market Data

This week we saw building permits increase by 16.73%, one of the largest jumps in quite some time. The market was pretty positive about this data, although I am cautious. We know that builders pull permits about 90 days before the home is to be completed. So what this is a "Hope" of a strong spring. But I feel that this will just clog the market with more homes.

I truly feel that there will be a huge wave of foreclosures hitting the market in the spring or as we call it the "phantom" inventory. I have already seen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac starting to dump more and more of their 'Home Path" or "Home Step" products on the market.

What was nice is that existing home sales jumped 12.34% in December and was only down .19% year over year. This was a nice surprise, especially since December was a really bad month for weather AND it is a holiday season. I feel that if we didn't have so much bad weather in the US, the Y o Y number would of been positive!