How To Qualify For FHA Loan in Crescent City California (Del Norte County)
Looking for an FHA Loan in Crescent City California?
An FHA loan is a mortgage that’s insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Popular with first-time home-buyers, FHA mortgages require flexible minimum credit scores and down payments than many conventional loans.
How Does an FHA Loan Work?
Borrowers can qualify for an FHA loan with a down payment as little as 3.5% for a credit score of 580 or higher. The borrower’s FICO score can be between 500 – 579 if a 10% down payment is made. It’s significant to remember though, that the lower the credit score, the higher the interest borrowers will pay. Something also worth noting is that the FHA loan limits affect your FHA mortgage insurance – its just part of the FHA loan qualifications.
The FHA program was created in response to the increase of foreclosures and defaults that happened in 1930s; to provide lenders with sufficient insurance; and to help grow the housing market by making home loans much more accessible and attainable for home-buyers with less than stellar credit or a low down payment due to FHA mortgage limits in Crescent City, California. Essentially, the federal government insures loans for FHA-approved lenders in order to reduce their risk of loss if a borrower defaults on their mortgage payments.
Because of that insurance, lenders can, and do, offer FHA home loans at really attractive rates and with less stringent and more flexible qualification requirements. The FHA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(Or call 213-474-7389 to ask a local lender anything!)
Benefits of FHA Loans: Low Down Payments and Less Strict Credit Score Requirements
Typically an FHA loan in Crescent City is one of the easiest types of mortgage loans to qualify for because it requires a low down payment and you can have less-than-perfect credit. For FHA loans, down payment of 3.5 percent is required for maximum financing. Borrowers with credit scores as low as 500 can qualify for an FHA loan.
Consumers who cannot afford a 20 percent down payment, have a lower credit score, or can’t get approved for private mortgage insurance should look into whether an FHA loan is the popular option for their personal circumstances.
Another advantage of an FHA mortgage loan is that it’s an assumable loan which means if you want to sell your house, the buyer can “assume” the loan you have. People who have low or bad credit, have undergone a bankruptcy or have been foreclosed upon may be able to still qualify for an FHA loan.
FHA Allows a 3.5% Down-Payment
For today’s home buyers, there are only a few mortgage options which allow for down-payments of five percent or less for residents of Del Norte County. The FHA is one of them.
With an FHA mortgage, you can make a down-payment as small as 3.5%. This benefits home buyers who don’t have a lot of money saved up for down-payment; and, home buyers who would rather save money for moving costs, emergency funds, or other needs.
FHA Allows 100% Gift Funds
The FHA is aggressive with respect to gifts for down-payment. Very few mortgage loan programs will allow your entire down-payment for a home to come from a gift. The FHA will.
Via the FHA, your entire 3.5% down-payment can be a gift from parents or another relative, an employer, an approved charitable group, or a government home-buyer program. If you’re using a down-payment gift, though, you’ll need to follow the process.
The FHA Hybrid provides for an initial fixed interest rate for a period of three or five years, and then readjusts annually after the initial fixed time frame. The 3/1 and 5/1 FHA Hybrid products enable up to a 1% annual interest rate adjustment after the initial fixed interest rate period, and a 5% interest rate cap over the life of the loan. The new payment after an adjustment will be calculated on the current principal balance at the time of the modification. This insures that the payment adjustment will be very little even on a worst case rate change.
About Crescent City California
The area that is now known as Del Norte County was and still is inhabited by the Yurok (Klamath River Indians) and Tolowa Nations of indigenous peoples. The first European American to explore this land was pioneer Jedediah Smith in the early 19th century. He was the first European American to reach the area overland on foot in a time before the European Americans knew anything about such a distant territory. For him it was literally “Land’s End” — where the American continent ended at the Pacific Ocean. In 1855, the U.S. Congress authorized the building of a lighthouse at “the battery point” (a high tide island on the coast of Crescent City) which is still functioning as a historical landmark.
European explorers first visited the area by ship in the late 1820s. Europeans began moving to the area in the 1850s. Crescent City was incorporated as a city in 1854.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.415 sq mi (6.25 km), of which 1.963 sq mi (5.08 km2) (81.3%) is land and 0.452 sq mi (1.17 km) (18.7%) is water. Fishing and crabbing, tourism, and timber are the major sources of income in Del Norte County. Elk Creek flows into the Pacific Ocean at Crescent City. Its nearest Californian place of any size to its interior is Happy Camp separated by roughly 42 mi (68 km) by air, but, due to the unsuitable terrain, it is much farther by road. The nearest city is fellow coastal city Brookings, Oregon, around 20 mi (32 km) to its north. The Humboldt Bay area encompassing Eureka and Arcata is more than 60 mi (97 km) to its south. Crescent City is as far north in latitude as Chicago, Middle Island in Ontario, Canada, as well as New England on the Atlantic side. It is as much as nine degrees latitude north of San Diego at the southern tip of the state. Crescent City is closer to Vancouver, Canada (838 km (521 mi)) than to Los Angeles (1,003 km (623 mi)).
Crescent City has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb), with moderation similar to an oceanic climate (Cfb). The wettest months are from October to March; the wettest month is December with 11.14 in or 283.0 mm and the driest month is July with 0.33 in or 8.4 mm. The average high and low temperatures in December are 55 °F or 12.8 °C and 41 °F or 5 °C. The average high and low temperatures in August are 64 °F or 17.8 °C and 53 °F or 12 °C. On average, four mornings each winter fall below 32 °F or 0 °C.
The highest temperature recorded in Crescent City was 97 °F (36 °C) on September 20, 1989 and September 21, 1939. The lowest temperature on record was 19 °F (−7 °C) on January 20, 1937 and December 21, 1990. The maximum monthly precipitation was 31.25 in (793.8 mm) in November 1973. The wettest year was 1904 when 107.61 in (2,733.3 mm) fell and the driest year was 2013 with 28.92 in (734.6 mm). The maximum 24-hour precipitation was 7.73 in (196.3 mm) on January 9, 1995. The highest snowfall recorded for any period in 24 hours was 6.0 in (0.15 m) on January 26, 1972. The 30-year average annual precipitation in Crescent City has decreased from 64 inches (1,630 mm) in the 1980–2010 period to about 58 inches (1,470 mm) over the 1990–2020 period.
Other Cities You May Be Interested In
Who Are FHA Loans For?
FHA loans are offered to low-income individuals who have credit scores as low as 500. Individuals with a credit score between 500-579 can obtain an FHA loan with a down payment of 10%; individuals with a credit score higher than 580 can get an FHA loan with as little as 3.5% down. The Federal Housing Administration does not lend the borrower the money to take on a mortgage or to buy the property. Rather, the borrower pays a monthly or yearly mortgage insurance premium to the FHA to insure the loan which the lending institution issues to him or her. In case of default, the lender’s financial risk is minimized since the FHA would step in to cover the payments.
Having no credit history is not a problem with an FHA loan for Del Norte County. Instead of your credit report, the lender may look at other payment-history records, such as utility and rent payments.
Even people who have gone through bankruptcy and foreclosure may still qualify for an FHA loan. However, the lower the credit score and the lower the down payment, the higher the interest rate.
(Or call 213-474-7389 to ask a local lender anything!)
Kinds Of FHA Mortgage Loans
In addition to its popular FHA loan, the FHA likewise guarantees other loan programs offered by private lending institutions. Here’s a look at each of them.
- FHA 203( k) loans – These FHA loans help homebuyers acquire a home– and remodel it– all with a single home mortgage. House owners can also utilize the program to refinance their existing home loan and add the cost of redesigning tasks into the new loan. FHA 203( k) loans come in two types:
- The limited 203( k) has an easier application process, and the repair work or improvements must total $35,000 or less.
- The standard 203( k) needs extra paperwork and applies to improvements costing more than $5,000, however the overall worth of the home should still fall within the FHA home mortgage limitation for the location.
- Home Equity Conversion Mortgage, or HECM – A HECM is a popular type of reverse mortgage and is likewise insured by the FHA. A HECM enables older property owners (aged 62 and up) with significant equity or those who own their houses outright to withdraw a part of their house’s equity. The amount that will be available for withdrawal differs by debtor and depends on the age of the youngest borrower or eligible non-borrowing partner, present rate of interest and the lesser of the house’s appraised value or the HECM FHA home loan limit or sales price.
- FHA Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) program – Energy effective home loans backed by the FHA permit homebuyers to acquire houses that are already energy effective, such as EnergyStar-certified structures. Or they can be used to purchase and remodel older houses with energy-efficient, or “green,” updates and roll the expenses of the upgrades into the loan without a bigger down payment.
- FHA Section 245( a) loan – Also called the Graduated Payment Mortgage, this program is tailored at borrowers whose incomes will increase in time. You begin with smaller sized monthly payments that slowly go up. Five specific strategies are offered: 3 strategies that allow five years of increasing payments at 2.5 percent, 5 percent and 7.5 percent each year. 2 other plans set payment increases over 10 years at 2 percent and 3 percent annually.
(Or call 213-474-7389 to ask a local lender anything!)
FHA Loan Limits for 2023
For 2019, the floor limitation for FHA loans in the majority of the nation is $314,827, up from $294,515 in 2018. For high-cost locations, the ceiling is $726,525, up from $679,650 a year ago. These limitations are referred to as “ceilings” and “floorings” that FHA will insure. FHA updates restrict quantities each year in response to changing house costs.
FHA is needed by law to adjust its amounts based on the loan limitations set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA, for traditional home loans ensured or owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ceiling and floor limitations vary according to the cost of living in a certain location, and can be various from one county to the next. Locations with a higher cost of living will have higher limits, and vice versa. Unique exceptions are produced housing in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands, where house building and construction is more expensive.
FHA Loan Relief
Loan servicers can offer some flexibility on FHA loan requirements to those who have suffered a serious monetary difficulty or are having a hard time to make their payments.
That relief might be in the form of a short-term period of forbearance, a loan modification that would decrease the rate of interest, extend the payback duration, or postpone part of the loan balance at no interest.
The FHA Hybrid Adjustable Rate
FHA administers a number of programs, based on Section 203(b), that have special features. One of these programs, Section 251, insures adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) which, particularly during periods when interest rates are low, enable borrowers to obtain mortgage financing that is more affordable by virtue of its lower initial interest rate. This interest rate is adjusted annually, based on market indices approved by FHA, and thus may increase or decrease over the term of the loan. In 2006 FHA received approval to allow hybrid ARMs, in which the interest is fixed for the first 3 or 5 years, and is then adjusted annually according to market conditions and indices.
How do you Qualify for an FHA Loan in Crescent City CA?
The FHA makes it relatively simple to qualify for a mortgage. Again, the government guarantees the loan, so mortgage companies are more willing to approve home loans. However, mortgage lenders can (and do) set standards that may be stricter than FHA requirements. If you’re having trouble with one FHA approved lender near Crescent City CA, you might have better luck with another.
Note: you never know until you submit an app. Even if you think you won’t qualify after reading this page, talk with an FHA approved lender in Crescent City to find out for sure.
Income limits: there are none. You’ll need enough to show that you can repay the loan but these loans are geared towards lower income applicants. If you’re fortunate enough to have a high income, you aren’t disqualified like you might be with certain first-time home buyer programs.
FHA Closing Costs
While FHA defines which closing costs are allowable as charges to the borrower, the specific costs and amounts that are deemed reasonable and customary are determined by each local FHA office.
FHA Debt Ratios
In order to prevent home-buyers from getting into a home they cannot afford, FHA guidelines have been set in place requiring borrowers and/or their spouse to qualify according to set debt to income ratios.
FHA Credit Issues
An FHA loan applicant’s past credit performance that shows good credit history and a solid track record of timely payments will likely be eligible for the home loan.
How to Find FHA Lenders
Debtors get their home loans from FHA-approved lending institutions in Crescent City instead of the FHA itself, which just insures the loans. FHA-approved lenders can have different rates and costs, even for the very same loan.
FHA loans are available through lots of sources– from the greatest banks and credit unions to community banks and independent home mortgage lenders. Expenses, services and underwriting requirements differ among lenders or mortgage brokers, so it’s crucial to search.
Learn more about how to find low FHA home loan loan provider.
