FHA History

In 1929, right after the historic Great Depression, hundreds of families who’ve owned homes lost them to foreclosure and forced sales. During that time only a very few families, mostly the elite, could afford to buy properties. Back then, mortgage terms were much more challenging to meet. Loans were just as difficult to attain as they were limited to a staggering 50% of the home’s market value.

Today, things are much different and although the economy is a polarising component of society, several people, even those who aren’t commercially wealthy, can now buy homes with the help of the right loan program.

One good example is house loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. Compared to conventional loans from most commercial lending companies, FHA loans triumph in several aspects.  

FHA Loan Benefits

FHA loans have lower down payments

Aspiring homeowners who do not have a sizeable amount of savings or funding intended for a down payment will be pleased to know that the FHA can loan amounts of up to 96.5% of a property’s value. FHA loans allow their loanees to put in only a minimum of 3.5% of a home’s entire purchase price. For instance, if a home is priced at $200,000, only $7,000 will be needed from you like your down. On many conventional loans, the smallest allowable down payment can range anywhere from 10% to 20% or sometimes even more. For a lot of would-be homeowners, an FHA mortgage can be the determiner of them finally buying a house.

That said, one thing FHA loans have that conventional loans do not is that mortgage insurance will have to be paid throughout the life of the loan, whereas conventional mortgages can forego that requirement when the homebuyer reaches a certain percentage of ownership and equity. So, reasonably enough, FHA loans have a Mortgage Insurance Premium.

FHA mortgage permit a friendly debt-to-income ratio

For those who don’t already know, A DTI evaluates the level of debt borrowers have and stack it against their collective salary. Lending firms, mortgage lenders included, resort to using the DTI as a method to gauge one’s paying capacity.

To find out your DTI, sum up all of your monthly debt—from student loans to postpaid bills, basically everything you have to pay for on a monthly basis—and divide it by your monthly income in gross. For example, let’s say you earn a decent $6,000 a month and your recurring debt is $2,000. That would mean that your DTI is 33%. Because two thousand divided by six thousand equates to 0.33.

DTI ratios that low demonstrate a healthy balance between income and debt. Lending firms prefer ratios that are considerably low since borrowers who have these are more likely to handle monthly debt payments better. Contrarily, a huge DTI says that one has too much debt and bills considering his or her income.

FHA loans require lower credit scores

Probably the most significant advantage of an FHA loan is that it can accommodate loanees whose FICO scores aren’t considered to be commercially high. Borrowers who have at least a credit score of 500 can loan a house with a 10% minimum down payment; meanwhile, those whose credit scores are 580 and up can purchase a home with just a 3.5% down.

Interested about the many other things FHA loans can offer? Click here.