Private Mortgage Insurance, commonly referred to as PMI, is an insurance premium that is charged to clients putting down less than 20% on the purchase of their home.

Contrary to popular belief, PMI does nothing to protect the borrower.  The insurance is in place to protect the bank who is taking the risk of lending to a borrower who has less than 20% down. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I gave a seminar on FHA lending to about 100 real-estate agents from areas in Los Angeles.  Agents from Hancock Park, Los Feliz, Silver-Lake, Beverly Hills, and Westwood were all in attendance and were shocked to find out that they could get FHA financing for many of their wealthier clients.

From this seminar I received several questions regarding the limitations of FHA financing.

Here is a sample of the questions I received and my answers: Read the rest of this entry »

An FHA loan is a government backed security which allows an entire spectrum of borrowers to get into their primary home for less than 20% down.

Contrary to popular belief, an FHA loan is NOT just for low income housing projects, buyers with bad credit, or borrowers who make very little money.

In fact, you can still take advantage of an FHA loan regardless of the amount of money you make, where you are going to live, or what your credit score is.  I’ve done FHA loans for clients with 640 credit scores and 820 credit scores.  I’ve done FHA loan for individuals living on a fixed social security income of $1,700 a month, and I’ve done FHA loans for investment bankers making $40,000 a month.  Although the current FHA structure only allows for a max loan amount (in Los Angeles County) of $729,750.00,  I’ve done FHA loans for clients in both Compton and and Beverly Hills.

An FHA backed loan is truly is a great product for any client seeking to put down less than 20%… Read the rest of this entry »