Benefits of Jumbo loans

Lower interest rates have refocused interest in the benefits of jumbo loans. New money is flowing into this area of mega loans and qualified borrowers are being drawn back into this market. Banks are entering into the jumbo loan market as new lenders, and buyers are attracted to the sharply reduced prices of luxurious properties.

One of the benefits of jumbo loans and their greater availability is that those who have postponed a purchase or sale or refinancing of a home requiring a jumbo mortgage loan should no longer sit on the sidelines.

Those who have wanted a house on the ski slopes, on the beach in Hawaii or an apartment in a high cost city like New York, Boston, Washington DC and San Francisco and who meet the rigorous underwriting requirements should tap into the benefits of jumbo loans and

Bank of America, the largest bank in the US, is one of the top tier banks that understand the benefits of jumbo loans. By pursuing the market for a jumbo mortgage loan, Bank of America stands to enjoy relatively wide interest rate margins and the risk of default, with such rigorous underwriting requirements, is relatively low.

Bank of America is making a push to originate these mega loans for its own loan portfolios, and is rolling out a program to make the benefits of jumbo loans available through its network of retail banks and Bank of America Home Loans, formerly Countrywide.
 
With the gap between interest rates for conforming loans and jumbo loan rates narrowing this year after having reached a high of between 3-5 per cent, Bank of America is counting on a real need for jumbo mortgage loan. There is no jumbo mortgage limit but mortgages in excess of $2-3million are termed super jumbo loans.

Those who live in high cost markets or who want to invest in luxury properties need the benefits of jumbo loans. For example, the median price in New York is around $955,500 at the end of 2008, which means at least half of the home buyers needed jumbo loans to purchase their homes.

To be fully eligible for the benefits of jumbo loans, it is best to get information on the qualifying criteria of the various lenders. A number of other financial institutions are following the lead taken by Bank of America.