Loans that are able to “conform” to the underwriting guidelines of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are called “conforming” or “conventional” loans.
Conforming loans are probably the “most popular” option for people with decent credit, a job and a “normal” house because in order to get a conforming loan, you need all three. If one of the three criteria changes (credit, employment, loan amount) then you probably will choose a different type of loan for financing such as FHA, Jumbo, sub-prime or handful of other types of loans.
Today it was released that the 2009 Conforming Loan Limit is going to remain the same as it has been since 2006 — $417,000 for a 1 unit, single family residence. The loan limits for 2, 3 and 4 unit residences also stayed the same as they had been since 2006.
- 1-unit properties : $417,000
- 2-unit properties : $533,850
- 3-unit properties : $645,300
- 4-unit properties : $801,950
Now for the catch:
The maximum conforming loan limits don’t apply to areas that have been named “high cost” by the government.
There are 59 designated high-cost regions in the U.S. and most of them are in California.
For everyone in Arizona, the 2009 conforming loan limit is $417,000.
One question we got recently made us scratch our head…
“So how is it that Salt Lake is considered a high-cost area and Scottsdale isn’t?”
