FHA | Fairway Independant Mortgage Corporation

Should You Wait Until Interest Rates Drop?

Featured Articles, FHA, Home Buyer, Lynnwood, Mortgage February 5th, 2025 David Haley

Waiting for a lower rate might slightly reduce your monthly payment, but rising home prices and lost equity-building opportunities often outweigh the benefit. Buying sooner allows you to lock in your home’s price and start building long-term wealth. Plus, if rates drop later, you can always explore refinancing to lower your payment—while rent typically keeps increasing.

Meet Sarah, a first-time homebuyer. She is looking at a $500,000 home. At a 7%* interest rate on a 30-year mortgage, her monthly principal and interest payment would be around $3,326*. She thinks about waiting a year, hoping rates drop to 6%*. At 6%*, the monthly payment on a $500,000 mortgage is about $2,998*—a clear savings.

But if prices rise in the meantime—say that $500,000 home jumps to $525,000—Sarah’s monthly payment at 6% becomes $3,147*, which is closer to what she would have paid at 7%* anyway. Meanwhile, she’s missed out on a year’s worth of potential equity and possibly paid rent instead.

Disclaimer: The values marked with * are rough estimates for informational purposes only. Actual amounts may vary based on individual circumstances, market conditions, loan terms, and other factors. This does not constitute financial advice—please consult a professional for precise calculations and guidance.

Opportunity for Growth: By purchasing now, Sarah locks in today’s home price and starts building equity right away. Even if rates drop later, she could refinance to secure a lower payment—but she won’t miss out on potential appreciation or continue throwing money at rent.

Opportunity Cost of Waiting: If Sarah waits and prices climb, that extra cost may offset—or even exceed—her savings from a slightly lower interest rate. Over the long term, missing out on appreciation and the chance to build home equity can be a bigger setback than paying a bit more in interest initially.

Unsure What’s Right for You?
At David Haley Mortgage, we help first-time buyers weigh the pros and cons of buying now vs. waiting—so you can make a smart choice for your future. Contact us today to explore your options!

The Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) has increased the amount of money that can be borrowed through a standard home loan.

FHA November 26th, 2019 David Haley

The Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) has just increased the amount of money that can be borrowed through a standard home loan to more than $500K for the first time ever. In some areas, the limit is even higher.

This is great news for buyers and owners alike.

Buyers may be able to borrow more money through a conventional, typically lower-rate loan.
Owners may be able to refinance their “jumbo” loan to a lower rate and possibly drop mortgage insurance too.
Combining (or avoiding) smaller 1st and 2nd mortgages may be an option.
The increase reaffirms the health of the housing market and your decision to invest in a home.

Here are the specifics about the change:

The standard loan limit, also known as the conforming loan limit, rose by 5.38% to a maximum of $510,400 in most areas.
The percentage increase is equal to the national appreciation average over the last year.
This is the 4th year in a row that the FHFA has raised the limit, after a decade of no increases. The limit has risen almost $100K over four years.
King, Snohomish, and Pierce county High Balance Loan Limit: 741,750.00
Purchase price with little as 5% down or more = 780,790.00 and borrowers can still stay in FNMA / Freddie Guidelines!

FHA Mortgage – Gift Funds – Bothell, Mill Creek, Lynnwood WA

Blog, Bothell, FHA, Home Buyer, Loan, Lynnwood, Mortgage, Seattle Mortgage, Zero Down Loan Lynnwood Mortgage Loan Officer November 28th, 2011 David Haley Mortgage Loan Officer

Gift funds still allowed for Home Buyers seeking to become a home owner, with home prices that are compared to 2000-2003 prices, and with today’s low interest rates, often times you can get into a home lower than what your rent payments are.

Gift funds can come from family members and all that is needed is 3.5% for your down payment, so if you were to purchase a home for as little as 150,000.00 then you will only need: 5,250.00 as a gift down payment.

There are other ways that you can accomplish this down payment if you choose to not receive a gift from your family, you can take a loan on your 401k up to 10,000.00 when you are a First Time Home Buyer.

When you are ready to go out and begin the home search make sure you have your finances, credit, and employment all worked out, by this I mean get pre-approved before you take the step to go out and look for your home. You must know what your payment and debt to income ratios will be, as well as what you can truly afford.

Buying a home can be easy when you have the right steps done in the right order, believe me, make sure you know what you can truly afford before you go out looking for a home.

Stanwood-listing-003 Who can qualify for a FHA Home loan, just about anyone, you do not have to be a first time home buyer! If you have owned a home before that is fine, you can have one FHA loan at a time, is the main guideline, however some exceptions have been seen before.

So to quickly summarize you can still purchase a home Zero Down* if you do receive a Gift! Should you seek more information and want to know what you qualify for go to the top right side of the website, click “Apply Now” and put David Haley as the loan officer and I will be glad to help you get started to owning your new home!

FHA – Increase in Mortgage Insurance – No April Fools Joke!

Blog, Down Payment, FHA, Home Buyer, Home Seller, Loan, Mortgage, Real Estate, Refinance Lynnwood Mortgage Loan Officer February 28th, 2012 David Haley Mortgage Loan Officer

April 1st of 2012 will not be a good April Fool’s joke – once again FHA has been looking at their overall solvency concerns and has deteremined they need to pass along the added costs to the new borrowers.

The UFMIP will be increased from 1 percent to 1.75 percent of the base loan amount. This increase applies regardless of the amortization term or LTV ratio. FHA will continue to permit financing of this charge into the mortgage. This change is effective for case numbers assigned on or after April 1, 2012. Example: Loan Amount = 100,000.00 new Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium is 1.75% = 1,750.00 being financed into new loan.

The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 requires FHA to increase the annual MIP it collects by 0.10 percent. This change is effective for case numbers assigned on or after April 1, 2012. FHA is also exercising its statutory authority to add an additional 0.25 percent to mortgages exceeding $625,500. This change is effective for case numbers assigned on or after June 1, 2012. UPDATE: Here is the HUD LINK

So for quick examples and here is the easiest equation. Take your loan amount 100,000.00 time new Monthly Mortgage Insurance Cost of 1.25% = 1,250.00 then divide this number by 12 to give you the Monthly Mtg Ins Premium Cost = 104.17 per month vs. the old MI factor of 1.15% = 1,150.00 / 12 = 95.83 per month.

Now these are all numbers based on if you are only putting the 3.5% minimum investment down for this type of loan.

Taken together, these premium changes will enable FHA to increase revenues at a time that is critical to the ongoing stability of its Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund, contributing more than $1 billion to the Fund, based on current volume projections through Fiscal Year 2013.

Should you have any questions please give contact me.

Mortgage Insurance, Not a Tax Deduction?

Blog, Down Payment, Fannie Mae, FHA, Freddie Mac, Home Buyer, Mortgage, Real Estate, Refinance, VA Loan, Zero Down Loan Lynnwood Mortgage Loan Officer December 30th, 2011 David Haley Mortgage Loan Officer

Mortgage-Insurance

Going forward Mortgage Insurance will no longer be able to be a line item deduction after 12/31/2011. As a Mortgage Insurance Company has reminded us: United Guaranty MI company. “MI tax deductibility is scheduled to lapse at midnight, December 31, 2011, now’s the time to expedite them to retain this benefit for your borrowers who qualify! MI tax deductibility will also lapse for FHA and VA loans, which were extended under the same law as private MI.”

As we found out last week, g-fees for new agency loans will be going up to pay for the two-month payroll tax cut.Under the “unintended consequences” banner analysts were quick to point out that, given the increase is scheduled for ten years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not going away any time soon unless the government comes up with the money elsewhere. F&F will not absorb this increase, nor will lenders; it will, of course, be passed on to borrowers. (The bill also will raise the annual insurance premium borrowers pay on FHA loans by one-tenth of a percent.) The increased g-fee, which makes it difficult for Congress to work on efforts to shut down Fannie and Freddie, based on current rates and a $200,000 loan, will cost the agency borrower about $11 per month. “These institutions, which have been so costly to Americans and are so necessary to the housing recovery, should not be the piggy bank for future arbitrary tax policy,” Dave Stevens (MBA) said. Due to their government ownership, investors still view their (and FHA/VA) MBS’s as safer investments than those offered by private firms. The law allows FHFA to phase in the fee over two years.
So, if you were lucky enough to close your home loan before 12/30/2011 Congratulations!

*As always seek a qualified CPA who can further assist you.* This is not to be construed as tax advice, informational purposes only!

We are hoping that the House of Representatives will continue to extend this tax credit to home buyers, as this is a benefit when you purchase a home and have less than 20% down payment. Make sure you contact your local Representative, Congressman, Senator, or local delgate. We need to extend this tax credit / deduction! As this will only help our real estate markets

Should you have any questions please contact me.

						Truly amazing process, support, & communication, so grateful for the guidance in a process that seemed so scary in the beginning, to feeling confident as a first time home buyer! Thank you!			
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B. C.		3/08/2025
						Truly amazing process, support, & communication, so grateful for the guidance in a process that seemed so scary in the beginning, to feeling confident as a first time home buyer! Thank you!			
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B. C.		3/07/2025
						They're great working with people and their timely manner and they're pretty awesome			
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P.		3/04/2025

						They're great working with people and their timely manner and they're pretty awesome			
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P.		2/27/2025
						I'd like to give a huge shoutout to David for being nothing short of amazing while buying my first home. Not only did he answer every question quickly, there were few questions in the first place because he was very thorough, but also explained everything in such a way that made sense. He helped move everything along quickly and efficiently. He was very personable and made me feel at ease about the whole process. Definitely will recommend him to all my friends and family.			
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T. B.		1/30/2025
						David is absolutely fantastic and has been such a blessing to work with throughout the process of buying our new home! He really breaks everything down for you, makes you feel confident without any questions left unanswered and works quickly to help you make your dreams a reality! Can't recommend enough!			
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K. G.		1/30/2025

Featured Articles

Should You Wait Until Interest Rates Drop?

The Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) has increased the amount of money that can be borrowed through a standard home loan.

FHA Mortgage – Gift Funds – Bothell, Mill Creek, Lynnwood WA

FHA – Increase in Mortgage Insurance – No April Fools Joke!

Mortgage Insurance, Not a Tax Deduction?

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