Anyone here have any experience with FHA loans?

[Meatwad]

Were thinking about getting a house, and was told that we could get an FHA loan since it is based on income. We are considered pretty low income by today's standards.  Anyone that has head an FHA loan id like some info before I decide if this is the way to go or not.

Local banks dont have any info on it at all, I already checked.

[Gunslinger]

Originally posted by Meatwad
Were thinking about getting a house, and was told that we could get an FHA loan since it is based on income. We are considered pretty low income by today's standards.  Anyone that has head an FHA loan id like some info before I decide if this is the way to go or not.

Local banks dont have any info on it at all, I already checked.

VA loans are pretty much the same as FHA loans.  I just bought my house with a VA loan.  Basically both are garunteed byt he govt up to a certain ammount to the lender.  The lender is required to give you a certain APR by law as well and usually there's little to no money down.

HOWEVER,

The paperwork required is about twice as much.
There are extra closing costs (my VA orrigination fee wasa bout 3K and thats ALL I was allowed to roll into the loan)

Good luck

[Meatwad]

I didnt know about closing costs. I just sent in the paperwork to see if I qualify so I may hear something within a week or two.

[Maverick]

I've done fha, it's pretty standard. The only thing is unless you put down a substantial amount you will be required to pay an "mortgage insurance fee" that is added to your payment. IIRC the amount you need to put down to avoid the fee is about 20%. It's been a while so I'm not sure.

Make sure there is no prepayment penalty and extra payments apply to principle not interest.

[E25280]

http://www.fha-home-loans.com

[BigGun]

And you definately do not want to pay mortage insurance. It isn't tax deductibe. If you don't have 20% to put down, it is most likely benefical to get a first mortgage of 80%, use whatever you have to put down, and get a second mortage to cover the balance of the 20%. Not sure how or if this works with fha loans though. Something to consider in the longrun costs though.

[republic]

My mortgage company found a loan through the department of agriculture, something to do with "Rural Housing".  It allowed me to borrow up to like 105% of the appraised value of the house.

I had to have no up front money, and did not have to pay mortgage insurance.  The requirements were easy to meet, I believe the income limit was 60k, and the house couldn't have an in-ground pool (I have no idea why not).  Plus it had some other general requirements probably similiar to an FHA loan.  I believe it's for first time buyers only, but I'm not certain.  And there is a limit relating to the population of the town/city you are purchasing the house in.  I also had an excellent interest rate.

If you want more info send me a PM and I'll dig through my loan paperwork.

[Meatwad]

Thanks for the help, I am gonna do some looking into on this stuff and see if it can help me more