As a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the FHA loan limits have been raised again, after they were lowered several months ago. I don't like putting this information out until it's truly official. I had a few realtors e-mail me because their lenders said that the new changes were going to take place on February 15th. I am not sure how anyone could say that when it wasn't signed into law until February 17th, 2009. And Mortgagee Letter 2009-07 didn't come out until February 24th. My whole point to this is that you should never believe someone that says something should take place on such and such date unless they can show it to you in writing from HUD. Not from the lender, unless it's a lender's guideline change.

Example, there were 2 different loan officers that said credit scores were going to change to 620 around February 12th across the board with every lender. I asked this person where they heard this, an owner of his own mortgage company. His answer...  from 2 reps. The second loan officer said that a mandatory change was going to happen on February 27th, with all lenders, across the board. At 9:45 pm on the 27th, there are still a few investors that will allow me to go to 600 and I know two that will allow me to go to 530 and 500 credit scores. Again, you really need to be careful in who you listen to in today's market.This is just a mini rant because it has actually gotten worse with misinformation than it has gotten better.

Back to the FHA loan limits for 2009. Mortgagee Letter 2009-07 states that these new loan limits are effective for FHA loans that were credit approved in 2009 and will remain in effect until December 31, 2009. Another thing that irked me, because I saw a loan officer state that these new loan limits were good until November 2009. This was before the mortgagee letter even came out.

So, what are the limits?  They can vary from county to county. The new ceiling limits are as follows :

1 Unit - $   729,750

2 Unit - $   934,200

3 Unit - $1,129,250

4 Unit - $1,403,400

Now, there are exceptions to the high cost areas and these are for such areas in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands. There are maximums limits that are adjusted up to 150 percent above the ceiling limits. The reason being is because of property size and to account for the higher costs of construction. But in some of these areas, because of the formula, it's been found that the limits have not reached it's full amount, but that they have surpassed the ceiling limits for 2009.

Here are the floor limits, which are the lowest limits allowed. If you look up your counties limits and your county is not listed, then you resort to the floor limit.

1 Unit - $271,050

2 Unit - $347,000

3 Unit - $419,400

4 Unit - $521,250

Here is the link to find your counties limits. It has aready been updated with the new aounts.  - 

FHA county loan limits for 2009

- FHA Loans - USDA Loans - VA Loans -

- Energy Efficient Mortgages - 

- Conventional Loans - 203 k loans -

- Mortgages -

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For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert

For more information about the 2008-2009 Tax Credit for First Time Homebuyers : 2008 Tax Credit

For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!

Copyright © 2009 by Jeff Belonger