A Jumbo loan is any loan amount that exceeds the high-balance loan limit set per county. High-balance loan limits for your city in California can be found here: California City High-Balance Loan Limits with a current absolute maximum of $729,750.00.
If you exceed this amount for your city/county, then you must get a Jumbo loan. Jumbos have been fairly hard to come by the past couple of years because many lenders found them too high-risk and did not offer them. For the lenders that did offer them, they usually came with a high rate and expensive fees.
The good news though is that there has been a rally in competitive interest rates for Jumbo loans, in particular with Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs). Today’s interest rates are as follows. (Please note that the rate and Loan-to-Value requirement is very sensitive to the location of your property. The below rates assume FICO scores above 720, Loan Amount up to $1,000,000.00, no impound account, no cash-out on equity, single family home, primary residence. They are all with zero points and no prepayment penalty. APR is based on a loan amount of $800k).
Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio of 70.0% and below:
| Loan Product | Interest Rate | APR |
| 5/1 ARM | 3.875% | 3.916% |
| 7/1 ARM | 4.250% | 4.292% |
| 10/1 ARM | 4.625% | 4.668% |
| 30 Year Fixed | 5.875% | 5.922% |
LTV ratio between 70.01% and 80.0%: (allows for lesser equity, but note the interest rates are higher):
| Loan Product | Interest Rate | APR |
| 5/1 ARM | 4.250% | 4.292% |
| 7/1 ARM | 4.750% | 4.793% |
| 10/1 ARM | 5.250% | 5.295% |
| 30 Year Fixed | 5.875% | 5.922% |
These rates are approximate .25% higher in rate than high-balance loan amounts, with the exception of the 30 Year Fixed, which is almost a full percentage point higher.
