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2025 mortgage predictions: Your playbook for a winning year

Housing Wire

Heres your game plan: Check your credit: A score of 640 opens the door to FHA loans and down payment assistance programs. Save strategically: Even with down payment assistance, youll need some savings for earnest money and closing costs. Many sellers are offering to cover 2-3% of closing costs.

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With rate lock activity up, Optimal Blue introduces automated refi tool

Housing Wire

It factors in lender fees and current pricing to deliver a dashboard that includes break-even calculations, closing cost estimates and borrower savings analyses across multiple scenarios. The tool also generates a prefilled borrower email summarizing the refinance options.

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USA Today: If Social Security falters, reverse mortgages could be worth a look

Housing Wire

The column is likely referencing the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage ( HECM ) program insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Loan proceeds are dependent on the amount of equity in the home and current interest rates, the column noted, and there are multiple disbursement options available, the column noted.

FHA loan 369
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Better rolls out FHA streamline refi product

Housing Wire

the parent of digital lender Better.com , rolled out its Federal Housing Administration (FHA) streamline refinance program on Monday. Better Home & Finance Holding Co. , In its second-quarter 2024 financial earnings, Better.com posted a net loss of $42.2 million, an improvement from the previous quarter’s loss of $51.5 million.

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More FHA borrowers are using piggyback loans that bear watching: CoreLogic

Housing Wire

They are usually used to finance the down payment or closing costs and typically work in an 80-10-10 structure with the first mortgage covering 80% of the total cost, the piggyback covering 10% and the borrower paying the remaining 10%.

Loans 450
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Housing authorities and lenders added 54 homebuyer assistance programs in Q3: report

Housing Wire

A total of 224 programs will fund certain upfront loan fees including the upfront mortgage insurance premium on FHA loans , the funding fee on VA loans and the guarantee fees on USDA loans. About 74% of the 2,256 homebuyer assistance programs are down payment and closing cost assistance programs.

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Should I pay off student loans before buying my first home?

Housing Wire

Gone are the days when you had to put 20% down to get approved for a loan to purchase a home. For example, a conventional loan lets you put as little as 3% down. An FHA loan requires as little as 3.5% One good thing about student loans is they typically don’t have as high of an interest rate as other loans.