First-time Home buyers: Don't Wait, Lock Your Rate!!!

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First Time Home Buyers:  Don't Wait, Lock Your Rate!!! If you're a first-time homebuyer on the hunt for your new home and you meet the qualifications for the VHDA Down Payment Assistance Grant.....you NEED to read this!!! During our RE/MAX bi-monthly meeting this past Thursday, our awesome and extremely knowledgeable in-house Senior Loan Banker, Scott Sagar,  with Atlantic Bay Mortgage informed us all that VHDA is CHANGING it's grant program, and it's happening VERY soon!  Right now, the VHDA program offers buyers of conventional or FHA loans the ability to have 1% of their own funds in the transaction, OR in their reserve accounts. This means that if you are using a FHA loan on a $200,000 house, you the buyer, will need to have $2,000 invested in this transaction (down payment, deposit, appraisal fee, etc..) OR in a reserve account  (savings, 401k, etc...).  However, after September 7, 2016 the options will change for buyers. The only option for buyers will be to have 1% invested in the transaction, eliminating the option of the buyer having 1% in reserves.  Another pretty significant change is that when using a conventional loan, the current grant maximum is at 3%. Well folks.... as of September 7th, that will drop down to 2%!!! A whole percentage of FREE money no longer available! Similarly, FHA's requirements are changing too. From the current 3.5% maximum grant available, down to a new maximum amount of 2.5%. One percent may not seem like a big deal, BUT when you're talking about the most expensive purchase of your life and FREE money, you should take every chance you get to reduce any expenses!!!! Let's put it into perspective. The current guidelines would allow a max grant of $7000 on that $200,000 house you just put an offer in on.  But, if you "need to sleep on it for a few days" before writing an offer, or if you "want to wait for the price to drop"....then not only do you risk missing out on your potential new home, but if you wait past September 7th, that $7,000 maximum grant drops down to $5,000! A whopping two thousand dollar loss! I know my bank account looks better with $2000 in it rather than out of it... how about you? Debt-to-income ratio are also changing! Currently, your maximum debt to income ratio is 45% and allows manual underwriting. Once the changes on the 7th take place, the maximum debt to income drops to 41% AND they will no longer allow manual underwriting or exceptions. This eliminates the opportunity for an actual person to review  a file and make any exceptions for extenuating circumstances.  Bottom line, if you are edge of qualifying you better get on the ball before this happens!  In the end, it all boils down to this:  no one ever wants to lose out on money.....especially FREE money! But lucky for you, you are now armed with this information, have the best agents and lenders ready to assist you immediately and you still have time to find your home and lock your rate in by the September 6th deadline!  If you would like to see if you qualify for the VHDA Down Payment Assistance Program, please click here to have an experienced lender contact you TODAY!  If you're already qualified and want to get out and start hunting before the deadline approaches, schedule an appointment today for a consultation!