Buyers seeking to finance a luxury home in Boston know firsthand the property values in the area are higher compared to most areas of the country. Recent data from Zillow shows the median home value for homes in Boston is around $675,921.
For homes in the jumbo category, most mortgage options require a down payment of at least 20 percent and for properties selling for $2 million or more, some banks even require a 30 percent down payment.
Real estate isn’t the most liquid of assets which means funds used for a down payment are locked into the property and can only be accessed with a home equity line of credit at some point in the future. This leads borrowers to search for mortgage options that will preserve a borrower’s liquid assets instead of depleting them.
The good news is there are competitive Jumbo mortgage programs available that require only 10 percent or even 5 percent down, preserving liquid assets and leveraging the low rates we’re enjoying today. Whether the luxury home is located in Fenway, the Leather District or Beacon Hill, there are competitive jumbo loan programs with low down payments available.
There are different options like the 80-10-10 loan that only asks for a 10 percent down payment. The program is structured with two loans, a first lien mortgage at 80 percent of the sales price of the home and a second, subordinate lien also at 10 percent of the sales price. For example, take a luxury home in the Midtown listed at $1.75 million. With the 80-10-10 option, the buyers make a down payment of $175,000. The first mortgage at 80 percent of $1.75 would then be $1.4 million followed by a second lien at $175,000.
Another option is to make a down payment of 5 percent and financing the balance. The main difference is the 95% Jumbo financing options are limited to $1,500,000 max loan amount. With this structure, the borrowers are only required to make a 5.0 percent down payment plus associated closing costs, preserving liquid assets even further.
Finally, there is a single stand-alone loan that asks for either a 5 or 10 percent down payment. The general rule of thumb when comparing these various options means a down payment of 10 percent will result in a slightly lower interest rate compared to a loan with 5.0 percent, in a similar manner that conventional, conforming loan programs are priced.
Most of these loan options require no mortgage insurance (PMI) and are available to qualified buyers throughout Massachusetts. Borrowers can read about all the Jumbo Purchase requirements here.
MORE: Buyers can find the latest conforming loan limits for Suffolk and all counties in Massachusetts on the FHFA website. Remember, any loan above this amount would be classified as Jumbo.
Several Boston area communities are showing respectable price increases over the past few years. For example, in Somerville, the median single-family home value is $775,000 which represents an 80 percent increase since 2010. In Jamaica Plain, the median single-family home value is $835,000 and the median value for a condo is $470,000 which represents a 59 and 39 percent change since 2010 respectively. Other neighborhoods experiencing healthy increases in values since 2010 are Cambridge, Newton, Revere and Brookline. In Brookline, the median single-family price is around $1.625 million.
Homebuyers that have questions about the purchase or Jumbo Refinance options can contact us by calling ph: 800-962-0677 or just submit the Quick Contact form on this page.