The Weekly Poll: What type of financing did you use to buy your home?
The weekly poll is trying to figure out how to finance the house of its dreams. Go vote and give it some advice.
This week’s poll topic has to do with something most of us have had to deal with if we own a home: financing. In particular, I’m curious what kind of financing you used when you bought your current home. It’s certainly no secret that FHA loans have become more than a little popular in the last few years. According to the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors, in the greater Knoxville area alone, the number of FHA loans used to buy homes more than doubled from 2004 (1,014) to 2009 (2,464) while the number of conventional loans fell by more than 50% (10,797 in 2004 vs. 4,876 in 2009 – ouch). This has largely been due to increasingly strict approval and underwriting guidelines for conventional loans.
However, it looks like there’s about to be some stricter guidelines on the FHA front as well, and some say that those changes (higher minimum down payment, fewer seller paid concessions, higher up front mortgage insurance payments) could cut out a good number of currently FHA eligible home buyers and thereby hurt the housing market. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the FHA might also need one of those tax payer bailout thingys? For the first time in its 75 year history? Crikey.
But before all those changes become official, I’m curious about how many of you used FHA vs. other types of financing when you bought your current home. And if you went FHA, was it by choice or by necessity? Or maybe a conventional loan was more your style when you bought your home? Or maybe you don’t buy anything you can’t pay cash for? Cast your vote and let me know!
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Hard working Knoxville real estate agent by day. Intrepid Knoxville real estate blogger by night.