FHA Loan Requirements
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, moving to a new home, or want to refinance your existing conventional or FHA mortgage, the FHA loan program will let you purchase a home with a low down payment and flexible guidelines.
- The Facts About FHA Credit Requirements and FICO® Scores
- Do FHA Loan Requirements Apply to All Borrowers?
- Your FHA Loan Credit Qualifications
FHA Limits for 2023 Announced!
FHA loan limits were established to define how much you can borrow for a HUD-backed mortgage. Each state has different limits, so be sure to look up your state to understand what is available for your FHA home loan.
For 2023, the FHA floor was set at $472,030 for single-family home loans. This minimum lending amount covers most U.S. counties. The FHA ceiling represents the maximum loan amount and is illustrated in the table below.
| FHA Limits (low cost areas) | |||
| Single | Duplex | Tri-plex | Four-plex |
|---|---|---|---|
| $472,030 | $604,400 | $730,525 | $907,900 |
Also for 2023, the FHA ceiling was set at $1,089,300 for single-family home loans. This represents the highest amount that a borrower can get through the FHA loan program. It applies to high cost areas in the United States and is illustrated in the table below.
| FHA Limits (high cost areas) | |||
| Single | Duplex | Tri-plex | Four-plex |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,089,300 | $1,394,775 | $1,685,850 | $2,095,200 |
Down Payment Grants for FHA Loans
Paying the upfront costs of buying a new home can be challenging. To help overcome this hurdle, many local and state agencies offer down payment assistance in the form of grants or second mortgages.
SEE YOUR CREDIT SCORES From All 3 Bureaus
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Learn what your score means.
FHA Loan Articles and Mortgage News
May 2, 2023 - News outlets, including CBS Miami and many others, have reported on changes to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s fee structure for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.
May 1, 2023 - If you are new to house hunting and home loans, you might understandably be tempted to view your potential mortgage payment as nothing more than the principal and interest multiplied by the number of months of your loan term.
April 30, 2023 - Financial pundits come and go, but some persist despite the whims of fame on the internet and television. One such financial pundit is Dave Ramsey, who offers financial advice in across a variety of sectors, including the mortgage industry.
April 28, 2023 - The adjustments come thanks to changes in something formally known as Loan Level Price Adjustments or LLPAs. USAToday reports these are the fees that vary from borrower to borrower based on their credit scores, down payments, types of home and more.
April 27, 2023 - Homeowners with FHA mortgages who experienced financial hardship during the global COVID-19 pandemic found relief in FHA loan forbearance options offered during the pandemic. Some of those options are still available, but time may be running out to claim them.
April 26, 2023 - Buying a home with an FHA mortgage means getting a loan backed by the government and therefore has potentially more competitive mortgage loan interest rates than some conventional equivalents.
April 24, 2023 - When you want to buy a home with an FHA loan, there are important choices. That can include the type of loan you apply for. Believe it or not, there’s no one-size-fits-all mortgage option and different loans serve different purposes.
April 23, 2023 - Hundreds of banking and finance blogs offer advice on buying a home. We picked some of the most common types of home-buying advice online to rate them. Is this information tired or inspired?
April 22, 2023 - When you start researching your options with an FHA home loan, you’ll find a lot of advice on finance and mortgage blogs. Some of the advice is good, and some is too generic to be useful.
Even to a first-time homebuyer, it's obvious that a down payment is needed for most typical home loans.
April 20, 2023 - Are you interested in buying a home? Building one? Your lender will ask for commitments from you in writing in the form of a sales contract and loan agreement. But you should be getting commitments from the lender, too.
SEE YOUR CREDIT SCORES From All 3 Bureaus
Do you know what's on your credit report?
Learn what your score means.
Homebuyer Terminology
If you’re getting ready to shop around for mortgage options, it’s a good idea to brush up on some of the technical terms in our Mortgage Glossary. You’re going to be hearing a lot of them!
