I’ve mentioned in a previous post (August 7th) that conforming loan limits are set to decrease in January 2009. In high-cost counties, this means a decrease from $729,750 down to $625,500.
We knew that this loan limit was temporary and set to expire on December 31st. But I’m starting to get announcements from lenders that loans within this limit must close by December 1st, 2008. This means that if you need to buy or refinance and your loan limit is in this bracket, you should be locked in by November 1st so that you can close by the 1st of December.
I’ve only received this notice from a couple of lenders, but I have no doubt that many others will follow suit. The reason they’re bumping the date up is because they want to assure that the loan will be purchased on the secondary market in the time frame required and this gives them more time to sell it.
What this means for the month of December, I just don’t know. I don’t know if it means that the $625,500 loan limit will be in place or if we’ll have one month of limbo, but I’ll keep you posted as I know the details.
