One of the most popular home mortgage programs around for Skagit County and other surrounding areas is the Rural Development financing program. It offers 100% financing and a very nominal monthly mortgage insurance charge, making it one of the most affordable financing options available for home purchases. Unlike most other home purchase mortgage programs, there are …

On February 1, 2012, President Obama announced his latest plan to help millions of homeowners refinance their homes to today’s record low rates. But will the plan ultimately be successful? The first refinance program that was introduced in 2009, called Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), was supposed to help millions of people, but less than …

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) rises in January to a reading of 25. This is up 4 points from the previous December reading of 21 and marks the 4th consecutive month of increases. The last time the HMI had a reading of 25 or more was in June of …

  “How much money can I get to buy a home?” It’s a common question that often leads off a buyer’s conversation with me. What they’re really trying to learn is, “In what price range should I be shopping?” The answer to this question provides a target for the buyer to do their search, and …

  VA is making a change to the types of loans that will be approved through the automated underwriting engine, and those changes are not friendly to new borrowers. Currently, people applying for a VA loan can sometimes get an approval with debt-to-income ratios as high as 56% (assuming the lender doesn’t have overlays reducing …