We have a variety of builders who are offering homes with 5.5% FHA rates on homes that should be completed in the next 90 days. Let us know what areas you’re considering and we can provide specific builder options.

Other than that, it’s best to get a pre-approval about 60 days before you plan to close. Then, we can shop in the appropriate price range and present weekend offers since we would need the pre-approval letter to send with the offer.

Regardless of the program chosen, you’ll need to have credit scores in the 600’s or higher, around 1% of the purchase price to be used for earnest money, $500 for appraisal, and $500 for inspections. That is all that would be needed prior to closing day.

It would be a mistake to wait for rates to come down much. Once rates drop to 6% or so, I expect multiple offers to start showing up again. Then, we’ll likely be seeing people bidding 5-10% over list price. It is better advised to buy before losing another year of appreciation and then refinance if/when rates come back down. That said, I wouldn’t hold my breath for 3% rates to come back. Too much money was printed during Covid 19 days, which caused inflation. Additionally, the Fed intentionally wanted rates higher in order to slow down the housing market. See chart below on the history of rates since 1970. Grey shaded areas were recessions.