No Closing Cost Mortgage

Many people want to buy a home but between the down payment and the closing costs many people just cannot afford to buy a home. It is something that has plagued the home loan industry for years, but when you have an FHA loan you will find that you can pay very little to get into your dream home. With a loan that is insured by the Federal Housing Administration you have several things on your side that make the process of getting into a new home more affordable. When you look into this type of loan you may find that you can spend as little as a month or two of rent to get into your new home, or less!

Step into Your New Home Affordably with an FHA Loan

With an FHA loan you will find that you don’t have to pay as much in closing costs as you would if you were closing with a conventional loan. Why is this? It’s simple, actually. With an FHA loan there are restrictions and limits on what sort of costs can be added into the closing costs. What this means is that the lender, the broker, and the realtor do not have carte blanch to charge you for anything and everything that they can think of so they can make more money off of your purchase. Instead, they have to keep things honest and legit and the restrictions and limitations ensure that you are only paying what you are obligated to pay, and nothing more. These limitations can help you reduce closing costs from the tens of thousands of dollars to just two or three thousand dollars!

In addition to the limitations on closing costs, the FHA also allows for the seller to contribute as much as six percent to the borrowers closing costs. What this means is that if you are working with a seller who really wants to sell their home and they want to make it as quick and painless as possible, they can kick in some of their profits and help you pay for the closing costs. So, if you had closing costs of $6,500 and the seller wanted to contribute six percent of the costs on a $100,000 home they would be paying $6,000 of your closing costs so you would only need to pay $500 in closing costs. Many buyers will not contribute this much but they will offer four or four and a half percent or something like that.

What is different about this is that when you are working with a conventional loan the seller is limited to contributing 3% to the borrowers closing costs. You would be surprised how many sellers are willing to contribute more than the 3% to the buyer when they are able because they just want to get the home sold and they want to be done with the whole process of selling their home. Being able to accept these contributions of more than 3% from the seller can help to make the purchase of a new home much more affordable for the average home buyer. The difference between the three and six percent is $3,000 and at the end of the day that is a lot of money when you are trying to keep the costs of your FHA loan to a minimum.

We all agree, purchasing a home will be, for most of us, the largest purchase you will make in our life. You have found your future home, arranged for financing and are now waiting for the closing date. But to many people’s surprise, there are other monies that will need to be disbursed before or on the closing date.

Some of the upfront costs you should plan on paying when purchasing a home include appraisals, inspections, earnest money, lenders fees, title company fees, and attorney fees. It is vital that you plan for these fees – speak to your real estate professional or your lender who will be able to outline and estimate all of these costs for you. The total cost of these various expenses and fees can run into the thousands and even the tens of thousands of dollars. It pays to be prepared.

You must also be careful of the 100% mortgages or no-money down loans. A no-money down loan does not mean that there aren’t any costs associated with the loan. In reality, these types of loans allow the buyer to borrow 100% of the purchase price of the home however the buyer is still responsible for the numerous other costs mentioned above.

You should also keep in mind that you will have to pay a portion if not all of that year’s property taxes. Typically, property taxes are called on and required to be paid in full as the home closes. A buyer, upon closing the home, will be called to pay his/her share of the annual bill as it is pro-rated. You may want to enquire about the property taxes of a specific house, or neighborhood, before signing the purchasing contract. Some neighborhoods are taxed more heavily than others.

There is however a way of “avoiding” having to pay some or all of closing costs. As a borrower, you do have the right to ask a seller concession to cover your closing costs and pre-paid items. This makes it so you do not have to come up with any money at all for closing costs.

A seller concession is worked into the purchase agreement and the seller will end up paying for some or all of the closing costs. The seller concession is either a flat fee or a percentage of the loan amount. This is a fairly common practice, particularly in depressed real estate markets.

As for pre-paid items, they generally consist of pre-paid interest and escrows. Many people run into difficulty reading and understanding the multiple costs that are involved with purchasing a home. Because of this, do not take any chances and talk to a loan consultant or mortgage broker. This will help clarify your financial obligations.

Purchasing a home is an exciting adventure. Don’t let your fear of the unknown spoil this joyous event. Being prepared and well informed will avoid you being shell-shocked when the time comes to paying the bills. The more informed you are, the better prepared you will be for the many upfront costs associated with buying a home.