Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

MA Governor Deval Patrick is asking local banks to participate in an initiative that would provide 10,000 mortgages over the next five years to Massachusetts first-time home buyers, several media outlets reported June 10, 2013. 

Called the Massachusetts Housing Ownership Compact, the plan is for local banks to provide mortgages loans for home buyers with household incomes that fall below the median income in their geographical areas, Boston.com reported. 

First-time home buyers in Massachusetts and around the country will want to speed up their home search, if they plan to finance the purchase of a home with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan. 

FHA announced recently that fee increases and underwriting rules for FHA loans will increase the cost of homeownership for first-time and other borrowers. FHA loans are especially popular with first-time home buyers because the minimum down payment required is 3.5 percent, as opposed to 5 percent to 20 percent or more for conventional loans. In addition, FHA will lend to home buyers with credit scores a little lower than scores acceptable to lenders of conventional loans.