The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 has recently revolutionized the old Fannie Mae charter, which expanded the definition of the "conforming" loan within the industry. Since November of 2008's release of the plan's limits, two sets of limits have been given for first mortgages: Conforming loan limits in general, and high-cost area conforming loan limits in particular.

The impact of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act to us here at Lending Bee is readily apparent. In order to make the expansion serve high-cost areas, Fannie Mae now provides the high-balance loan feature, which is widely implemented across our standard-conforming organization. Following the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, all loans done in 2009 and beyond may be given to Fannie Mae using the higher of the temporary high-cost area loan limits or the permanent, high-cost area loan limits in place for loans from 2008.

Conforming Loans

In further support of the above legislation, we at Lending Bee have setup gallant limits to our loans. In fact, we're willing to lend up to $5 million dollars worth of capital for residential properties in total. Our conforming loans go up to $417,000 for each unit purchased, while our high-cost conforming loans can be as high as $729,750.

These conforming loan limits are applicable to all standard mortgages that are sent to us for MBS pool issuance or whole loan purchase on or after January 1, 2009. This also includes mortgages issued before 2009, provided that the original outstanding principal balance was equivalent to or less than the new top figure limit.

Jumbo Loans

Jumbo loans are loans that go beyond the stated loan amount approved by Freddie Mac and Fannie May, which are the federal agencies that handle the secondary mortgage market. As such, any loans you make with Lending Bee that are above the $729,750 limit are classified as jumbo loans.

To be clear, Freddie Mac and Fannie May should not be considered as loan guarantors; they are instead the organizations that purchase loans from lenders in order to resell them to other individuals or organizations (e.g., pension funds and insurance companies). Interest rates are usually higher for jumbo loans, but this isn't always the case. Talk to our agents for more details regarding Lending Bee's maximum loan limit.