Mortgage Minute

With the effect that the higher interest rates and housing prices have had on the affordability of housing, the prospect of owning a home might seem a bit out of reach. The Montana Board of Housing, or MBOH, has various benefits designed to help with bridging that gap of owning a home.

Some of the benefits of using MBOH is that they have lower interest rates than that of conventional financing. Their regular loan program is currently at 5.75% versus the conventional mortgage rates of 7.625%. They have various programs that offer down payment and closing cost assistance. For veterans, they offer special home loan programs with even lower rates than their other loan programs. MBOH loan servicing is local, which means that your loan will not be sold.

There are income and purchase price limits for these types of loans. These limits (which are subject to change) are based on the county that you live in and the number of people living in the household. For Sanders County, the current income limits are $107,640 for a 1-2 person household and a household of 3 or more is $125,580. The current purchase price limit for Sanders County is $588,104 for the regular program and for the VA program it is $457,117.

MBOH does require that you are a first-time home buyer or have at least not owned a home during the previous three years. The funds from their loan programs are specifically designed to purchase a single-family primary residence and are not allowed for refinancing.

For more information regarding all they have to offer, visit their website is at https://housing.mt.gov/. The MBOH programs have their own set of qualification standards. Please talk to your lender for details.

Michael Scharfe has been a lender at First Security Bank for 10 years. Reach him at [email protected].