Friday, January 20, 2017

HUD Mortgage Insurance Premiums Reduction Indefinitely Suspended

[This is an update to our previous blog post here] Merely moments after being sworn in as our nation’s 45th President, President Trump’s HUD indefinitely suspended the MIP reduction of 25basis points, that was scheduled to begin on January 27th.

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Friday, January 13, 2017

HUD Lowers Mortgage Insurance Premiums for Most FHA Loans

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on Monday that they plan to reduce the Mortgage Insurance Premium for FHA mortgage loans. Since 2012, the Federal Housing Administration’s(FHA) Mutual Mortgage Insurance(MMI) Fund has gained $44 billion, and is now 32 basis points above the 2 percent threshold level required by Congress. This is ~$13 billion more …

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Thursday, January 5, 2017

Millionaire Tells Millennials To Buy A Home

CNN recently ran an article explaining why self-made millionaire David Bach has said, “The fact is, you aren’t really in the game of building wealth until you own some real estate.” In his book, “The Automatic Millionaire” Bach writes, “As a renter, you can easily spend half a million dollars or more on rent over …

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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Conforming Loan Limits Set To Increase For 2017

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced that it is increasing the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgage loans beginning in 2017.  A mortgage loan is considered “conforming” when it is eligible to be acquired by Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac. (Mortgages are often sold to Fannie or Freddie so that a lender has the liquidity/money available …

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Thursday, November 17, 2016

Celebrating Our Veterans

Benchmark is thankful for all United States veterans and the sacrifices they’ve made for our country. We asked some of our own veterans here at Benchmark to share what makes them proud to have served our great nation. I am proud to have served in the US Navy. Volunteering four years of my life seems …

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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

5 Ways to Adjust To Your New City

Whether you are striking out to your first job after college, or moving your whole family for a job relocation; moving is hard. Here are a few helpful tips to successfully begin adjusting to your new surroundings. Plan Your New Commute Think ahead, and plan the routes you’ll eventually need to follow. Knowing the quickest …

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Thursday, November 3, 2016

Buying Still Cheaper Than Renting

Even in light of rising home prices, Trulia‘s October 2016 “Rent vs. Buy Report” successfully argues that owning your home with a conventional 30-year fixed rate mortgage costs less than renting in major US metros, even in high priced areas like Honolulu, HI (which sees 17.4% cost reduction over renting). The highest difference was 53.2% in Miami, FL …

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