Could we get a conventional mortgage? (PMI, loan officer, interest rate, property tax)

[househuntinggal]

Hubby and I make 120K gross, his credit 720, mine 760. We want to take out 270K mortgage (max, hopefully less). We hope to put 10% down on whatever we buy. Could we get a regular mortgage fairly easily or do we have to go FHA? We're in NJ.

We did get "pre-qualified" a few months ago for 375K, but that probably means nothing as it was just a pre-qualification and not pre-approval. (Although the loan officer based it on credit scores he had for both of us from last fall, as I didn't want my credit pulled again.) We haven't gone mortgage shopping yet because we can't close until October, but I was hoping to get some opinions from you smart folks here.

[chet everett]

How much can I borrow calculator

Your income suggests to me that you would be able to borrow much more than $375K ...

What sorts of debts do you have?

[househuntinggal]

We don't have much debt, well I don't think its much anyway...

I have about 5K in outstanding student loans, no credit card debt. We pay $500/mo for car payment and insurance.

We got the pre-approval last year for 375K because that was the asking price of the house we were interested in.

NJ has high property taxes, it would be anywhere from 5-9K per year for average townhouses we're looking at, plus possibly condo fees up to $250/mo.

Also, I think my husband's credit was a bit lower last year, around 700.

[Moonwalkr]

You should be able to borrow that much. As Chet said, they'll take a look at the entire financial picture. You'll have to do mortgage insurance, and I'm not sure what sort of interest rate you'll garner.

[chet everett]

Ok, that fills in some details. How much is insurance? Do you know the interest rate on the car loan? How long till you pay that off?

With only 10% down you going to be flushing away some money on PMI too.

If you can get your savings up you ought to be a in great shape.

[househuntinggal]

Hmmm...I can't remember the rate on the car loan! Its fairly new, we still have 4 years to pay it off. My student loan is in Canada and doesn't show up on my credit report here.....

How much would PMI be on a mortgage that size? We're hoping to keep everything (mortgage, taxes, condo fee, PMI, insurance) under $2600 month.

Thanks so much for your responses.

[househuntinggal]

So we were about to put in an offer yesterday and I decided to call a few mortgage brokers to get ready. They told me that since we only have 10% to put down, we HAVE to go FHA, because noone is getting PMI anymore. This community we're interested in isn't FHA approved, and I don't feel it would be approved if I apply for it. (They have had issues with the management company and about 20% of the homeowners are not in good standing with their fees). I'm so bummed.

Is anyone out there giving PMI in New Jersey?????

[Pfhtex]

Do you really want to drop the extra cash and then pay a higher conventional PMI, if it can be found?

Do you have more data as to why the community is not FHA approved?

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by househuntinggal

So we were about to put in an offer yesterday and I decided to call a few mortgage brokers to get ready. They told me that since we only have 10% to put down, we HAVE to go FHA, because noone is getting PMI anymore. This community we're interested in isn't FHA approved, and I don't feel it would be approved if I apply for it. (They have had issues with the management company and about 20% of the homeowners are not in good standing with their fees). I'm so bummed.

Is anyone out there giving PMI in New Jersey?????

Should be able to do 10% down with PMI.