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Freddie Mac's Home Possible Loans

With as little as 3% down payment required, Freddie Mac’s  Home Possible Mortgage loans are ideal for low to moderate-income borrowers with few savings, first-time homebuyers, borrowers with shallow credit histories or retirees on a limited budget.

The benefits to borrowers are more flexible sources of funds for the down payment that can include gifts, grants, employer assistance, secondary borrowing, the borrower’s money, and other approved sources. Because the down payment is lower than the benchmark 20% down, you’ll pay private mortgage insurance. This protects the lender should you default, and the cost is based on your loan-to-value ratio and credit scores. Expect to pay $40 to $80 per month for every $100,000 you borrow. However, Home Possible mortgages have reduced mortgage insurance for loan-to-value ratios greater than 90 percent.

Other benefits include flexible property options, including condos and 1-4 unit homes, caps on credit fees, mortgage flexibility including 15-to 30-year fixed rate loans and some adjustable rate products, income flexibility and refinance options.

Required credit scores depend on the type of loan product you want and whether or not you're buying a single unit or up to four units in the same building, but you should have a credit score of at least a minimum of 660 to 680 for single occupancy.

If you’re hesitant about getting into a low-down payment loan, don’t be. These loans are only available through your lender if they meet Freddie Mac’s underwriting standards. Freddie Mac wants you to build wealth and security through homeownership.

Fears Over Delta Variant Drive Mortgage Down

Insurers are taking a hard look at the millions of Californian homes with a very high risk of wildfires, where a series of costly fires incinerated thousands of  homes over the past few years.  From 2015 through 2019, insurers dropped property coverage for more than 143,000 customers in 13 counties, according to California Insurance Department.

During the same 2015-2019 period, tens of thousands of people enrolled in California’s FAIR Plan, an insurance pool that provides basic fire insurance coverage for high-risk properties that traditional insurers won’t cover. It is considered the state’s “insurer of last resort.”

Is California Next?

How many times have buyers, competing in a multiple offer situation, put pen to paper to write a love letter to the seller?  Like an annual Christmas letter, out will come the would-be-buyer's accomplishments; what their jobs are; what they like to do; their dreams and aspirations; why they love the house and so on.

Some are simple, "State the Facts", some border on literary masterpieces while most are in-between pleas by desperate buyers.

And yes, sellers are swayed. These are real seller responses to these letters:

"I love how they have a Golden Retriever, just like our Sadie."

"I really want the veteran to get the house."

"All the buyers seem solid but these buyers really like my permaculture garden. They seem like they will keep it up."

Fortunately, I never heard anything remotely racist or repugnant. Had they, a swift mention of Fair Housing Laws and consequences of deliberately breaking them, would have been my response.