Seattle Mortgage Loans

Are you ready to settle down in another great metropolitan area and buy some real estate in Seattle? Mortgage loans make it possible, but this Washington city might put anything the investor or residential customer knows about the lending industry on its head. For example, the median annual household income has increased significantly over the course of the past decade. Starting off in 2000 with an average of more than $45,700, it climbed to a figure in excess of $61,700 in just a short eight years. Remembering that Washington State’s median income sits at only around $58,000, it is not surprising that Seattle mortgage loans are traditionally higher than those in other areas. This might force the home buyer to take a long, hard look at the jumbo loan market.

Median home prices tell a convincing tale that supports this assertion. Going back to 2008, the average single family home cost right around $620,000. A town house might run about $442,000 if it was tucked into a community with several others of its kind. The same two-unit home would shoot up to $729,000 if there were fewer adjacent units of the same kind. Even mobile homes are priced slightly above average (for the United States market) at roughly $95,200. Real estate investors and private home buyers frequently have little choice but to search for Seattle mortgage loans that effectively fall into the jumbo loan territory. This makes the landscape for low interest rate mortgages rather slim.

There is, of course, another option for finding Seattle mortgage loans that come in just below the jumbo cutoff of $417,000. Working with an experienced realtor, the home buyer has the option of locating a competitively priced short sale or foreclosure unit that might feature some damage the buyer is willing to accept. As long as this damage is not structural and could be fixed – a good example is the replacement of a roof which generally costs right around $5,000 – at an expense that scares off the average buyer with a limited income, there are good bargains to be had. Using the out-of-pocket expense as a bargaining chip, a single family home may be purchased at a considerably cheaper price that could squeak in just below the jumbo amount.

Of course, the tried and true methodology of finding Seattle mortgage loans that do not fall into the jumbo category is still the same as it has been for years: a sizable down payment. Unfortunately, when moving into a city that is relatively high on the American cost of living index – Seattle comes in at 126.5, while the overall U.S. average stands at 100 – there is little room for making a home sale in another locale count. Thus, unless the home buyer comes armed with sizable savings, shopping around for the most competitive jumbo loan rates is highly advisable.