Stearns Lending Home Loan Programs Help Homebuyers Purchase Their First Home

LEWISVILLE, Texas, Sept. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- One of the major hurdles many first-time homebuyers must overcome to purchase their first home is to save for their down payment. Stearns Lending has reduced this barrier with customizable home loan programs that require a low to zero down payment, in addition to programs that provide down payment assistance, no mortgage insurance, and reduced interest payments for the first two years of their mortgage.

"While Stearns Lending offers the more common conventional, FHA, USDA and VA home loans which each have a low or zero down payment requirement," said Jim Linnane, EVP Retail Lending President, Stearns Lending. "We are most proud of our home loan programs geared towards helping first-time homebuyers overcome the most common barriers to purchasing their first home."

Stearns Lending offers the HomeOneSM mortgage program for first-time homebuyers preferring a conventional loan with a low 3% down payment requirement and no income restrictions. This program can be paired with down payment assistance programs, if available in the homebuyer's city, to make the down payment lower than 3%. The Fannie Mae HomeReady and the Freddie Mac Home Possible mortgages programs are similar conventional home loan programs that have 3% down payment requirement, but they have income limits.

First-time homebuyers who want to purchase a fixer-upper have access to several renovation loan programs through Stearns Lending. HomeStyle from Fannie Mae is a conventional loan option for purchase-and-remodel projects that requires first-time homebuyers to put down a 3% down payment.

The Buyer's Access is a grant program that Stearns Lending has paired with Fannie Mae's HomeReady program that provides the required 3% for a down payment as a community second mortgage, and allows for an additional 1% to be allocated for closing costs. Homebuyers will also not pay mortgage insurance, which a frequent requirement when a homebuyer pays less than 20% downpayment.

Smart Start is a lender-paid buy-down program from Stearns Lending which gives first-time homebuyers two years to ease into their mortgage payments. In the first year of the Smart Start program, the lender pays the first 1.5% of the interest and 0.5% of the interest in the second year. For example, if the interest rate is 4%, the homeowner would be responsible for paying 2.5% interest on their home loan for the first year and 3.5% of the interest on their loan the second year. The home buyer pays the full amount of the interest on the third and subsequent years.

Homebuyers can avoid mortgage insurance on their home loan with a Seller-Paid Buy Down Loan program with Lender-Paid Mortgage Insurance (LPMI). Stearns Lending will pay the mortgage insurance for the life of the loan. First-time homebuyers can use the money they've saved by not paying mortgage insurance to pay down other debt or to make additional payments on the principal to pay off their home loan sooner.

Each of these home loan programs has specific qualification requirements. Homebuyers should find a Stearns Lending mortgage loan originator at Stearns.com to discuss their home loan options.

Stearns Lending, LLC is licensed to originate home loans in 49 U.S. states (excluding New York), including District of Columbia, and with over 90 branches across Alaska, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexica, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

SOURCE Stearns Lending