The real estate blog.

I received word in my email this afternoon that zero down mortgages were gone. Fannie and Freddie have several high loan to value programs available, but mortgage insurers are simply not writing the policies any more. Even risk based policies are gone.

This means that while the program may exist, no investor will buy them. I checked a few other lenders before writing this post and saw they still had them for now, but I expect the die-off to complete itself before week’s end.

A clue of this outcome came last week when Congress made a compromise in the housing bill to raise FHA loan down payments instead of lowering them. This is a pretty big indicator of the fear associated with high LTV loans.

Senate Democrats also yielded ground on a provision to change the

down payment requirements for FHA loans. Democrats have been pushing to reduce them, but the bipartisan agreement actually increases them by half a percentage point. That may not fly in the House, when it considers the package.

If you have an unlocked 100% loan in process, check with your loan officer/broker to see if your program is still available. Lock it in if you still can.

One program that continues to offer 100% financing is the V.A. (Veterans Administration) loan program for enlisted and retired military members. Home buyers eligible to receive this program can benefit from no out of pocket costs with a properly structured purchase contract.

Other than V.A. mortgages, 100% financing will very soon be going the way of the dinosaur and dodo bird. Extinct.