Are you thinking about purchasing a house that costs more than $400,000? Unless you are planning to make a significant cash down payment on your new home, it is likely that you will need to apply for a jumbo loan. A jumbo loan is simply a home loan for property in the continental United States that exceeds $417,000, whether the funds are used to purchase a new home or to refinance an existing mortgage. For residents of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, mortgages are not considered to be jumbo loans until they exceed $625,000.

Jumbo loans are simply mortgage loans made for amounts that exceed the limit for conforming home loans, as determined by Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac, government sponsored entities that are the two largest players in the secondary home loan market in the United States. For this reason, jumbo loans are sometimes referred to as nonconforming loans. Jumbo loans exceed the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) underwriting limits. This means that lenders who extend jumbo loans (1) cannot sell the notes to either of the two largest secondary market lenders in the United States are (2) not eligible for default protection from the FHA.

Not all lenders offer jumbo loans. If you are planning to apply for a jumbo loan, it is important to disclose your intent to your loan officer right away. Otherwise, you could find yourself wasting a significant amount of your time and that of the mortgage professional with which you are working if the lender he or she works for doesn't process nonconforming home loans.

Because jumbo loans are considered to be among the most risky types of mortgage loans, they are more expensive to get and to process than conforming mortgages. Lenders who write jumbo loans are assuming greater risk than with traditional loans, so they typically charge higher interest rates for these types of mortgages than they do for conventional home loans.

Lenders also incur higher underwriting expenses for jumbo loans than with smaller mortgages, and these costs are passed on to the borrower. Part of the reason that the cost of jumbo loan underwriting is so expensive is related to the fact that these loans are not eligible for FHA underwriting.

Additionally, organizations that underwrite jumbo loans are risking losing a large amount of money in the event of a borrower default. It can be very difficult for guarantors to recover their losses by selling foreclosure homes in this price range. There is a limited market for homes in the luxury price range, meaning that there is a very real chance that a foreclosure home won't sell, or will have to be sacrificed for much less than the outstanding balance of the loan.

Because the consequences of jumbo loan foreclosure are so serious, getting approved for this type of loan can be difficult. It is not uncommon for lenders who do participate in the jumbo loan market to utilize very strict guidelines for approving loans in this category. Creditworthiness criteria are often more stringent for jumbo loans than for smaller, conforming loans that are eligible for FHA backing and can be sold in the secondary market relatively easily. Additionally, many jumbo loans require a minimum down payment of twenty percent.

The current state of the mortgage industry makes jumbo loans less appealing than ever to investors in the mortgage industry. One of the biggest concerns regarding the current status of jumbo loans is the fact that it may be even more difficult than usual for lenders to resell these types of loans to mortgage investors. With so many major players reeling from the mortgage meltdown of 2007, the additional risk factors associated with jumbo loans are making many private finance and investment firms hesitant to invest in the nonconforming loan market.

In many parts of the country, the number of homeowners seeking jumbo loans is very limited. Throughout most of the United States, the median home price is less than $250,000, which means that only those shopping at the highest end of the housing market are likely to be candidates for jumbo loans.

However, in many large metropolitan areas, average home prices are significantly higher than the jumbo loan limit. In parts of New York, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and many other states with high costs of living, it is virtually impossible to find even a small home for less than the lower limit for jumbo loan programs.

In such areas, even buyers in the lower ends of the housing market face the challenges of jumbo loan financing if they want to become homeowners. Not only do they have to deal with the highest housing prices in the country, they must also pay a premium on mortgage funding even when selecting moderate dwellings.