Portsmouth NH Homes Condos Real Estate

If you're thinking about buying real estate in the Portsmouth NH and Maine Seacoast areas, here are some important things to know about credit scores and how that impacts your ability to obtain a home mortgage.

Your credit score is more important today than ever before, and if you've got a good credit score, you want to do everything you can to protect that good score. Your credit score is a good indicator of how likely you are to pay off your debts on time. The more likely your credit history shows this to be, the better the mortgage program will be that you qualify for. The higher your credit score, the better you look to mortgage companies and banks.

Credit scores range from 350 to 850, and the higher your score, the lower the risk you pose. This is how credit scores are categorized:

Excellent Score  --  760 and higher (this number has been increased to closer to 800)

Good Score  --  720 - 760

Average Score --  680 - 720

Reason for Concern --  620 - 680

Reason for Great Concern  --  620 and under

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  Portsmouth New Hampshire Homebuyers - Great FHA Mortgages!!

If you're a homebuyer in the Portsmouth New Hampshire real estate market, a whole new option has now opened up for you with the recent increase in the FHA loan limits.

I wrote a post a few days ago annoucing the increases for the New Hampshire Seacoast areas of Rockingham County and Strafford County. If you missed it - check out this post for the loan limits in various housing categories --- >> Portsmouth NH Real Estate - Great News on New FHA Loan Limits!!

FHA is a little more forgiving when it comes to a person's credit history.

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Are you thinking about buying a home or condo or multi-family in the Portsmouth New Hampshire areas? 

If so, then the newly released increases in the FHA mortgage amounts may be of particular interest to you!  Check the Rockingham County and Strafford County loan limits in the chart below (the yellow highligted rows) - those are some very nice increases for this area for maximum mortgage amounts.

  

The chart below shows the loan limits for those mortgages that close on or after March 17, 2008.  This is good news for buyers and sellers as there is now an option for those needing lower down payments for prices that were above the existing FHA mortgage loan limits.

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Do you own real estate in Portsmouth NH or in the Seacoast area?  Are you having difficulty making ends meet?  We all know times are a bit tough for many people lately, and it's difficult making all the payments you need to. 

I just read an article put out by the American Homeowners Foundation, entitled "Top 10 Foreclosure Avoidance Tips".  These tips are great for those needing help now, and for anyone down the road that may find themselves needing this kind of help.

 
Some of the tips they list are:

• 1)  Don't ignore the problem
• 2)  Contact a HUD approved local nonprofit counseling agency for programs to help you
• 3)  Find out what your home is worth so you know how much equity you have in it
• 4)  Stay away from companies that charge you a fee for mortgage counseling
• 5)  Know your mortgage rights

These are just some of the tips they've listed, and on their site that I've linked to above, they go into detail on each of the tips about why that advice and how to do what they're suggesting.  There's some very helpful information in their article, as well as on their website, American Homeowners.

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