FHA Raises Minimum Down Payment Requirement for First Time Home Buyers

As part of a a $300 billion expansion of Federal Housing Administration loan guarantee programs, Congress decided to raise the minimum down payment requirement for FHA loans and kill seller funded down payment assistance programs. Previously a home buyer needed at least a 3% down payment to purchase a home using an FHA insured loan. Under the new bill, home buyers will have to come up with 3.5%. Clearly not the kind of help that first time home buyers were expecting, these new changes are sure to take at least 30% of first time home buyers out of the market. Most local boards of Realtors already have more mls listings than can be sold anytime soon, so these changes are sure to make it even more difficult to sell a home.

The seller funded down payment assistance is set to end on October 1st so if you are a first time home buyer who can't purchase a home without the aid, you'll want to get busy as you have less than 60 days left.

MLS Listings added to First Home Guide

First Time Home Buyers can now access MLS listings in most major metropolitan areas through First Home Guide. This recent addition to our first time home buyer web site provides our first time home buyer visitors with access to over 2 million homes for sale. First Home Guide has partnered with MLS Maps for most of the MLS listings, but we are also letting agents who have posted their property listings on First Home Guide add a link from each of their property listings to their MLS search page.

Stay tuned as First Home Guide is adding new real estate agents and their listings everyday.

User-Friendly Minnesota MLS Listings Search Map Available

Virtually All Minneapolis Real Estate Listings

Save time and effort searching for properties online using the following tools:

SearchSaverSM allows you to:

* Save your searches and receive email notifications whenever new listings match
* Choose email notifications for only new listings or for new and updated listings
* Save as many searches as you like

Favorites allows you to:

* Save listings to your Favorites folder with one click
* Email your Favorites to your Realtor, a co-buyer, or a friend
* Save as many Favorites as you like

Check out http://www.AllMinneapolisRealEstate.com

First Time Home Buyers Get Free Access to Home Listings

First time home buyers can now access over 2 million homes for sale at www.firsthomeguide.com. First Home Guide has linked home buyers with real estate agents who display their local MLS listings on web sites in over 150 major metropolitan areas and cities. This is free to first time home buyers and gives them access to thousands of homes for sale in their local markets.

First home Guide will be adding an online First Time Home Buyer Seminar in late January in response to all the inquiries from first time home buyers around the country. Home buyers will be able to access the seminar anytime from anywhere and pause it and return whenever time permits. This is a general first home buyer seminar and First Home Guide will be adding more specific seminars in the near future on topics like FHA Loans, buying foreclosures, credit repair and more.

If you have an idea for a first time home buyer topic that you would like us to cover, please email us at info@firsthomeguide.com or visit us at www.firsthomeguide.com.