In the Baltimore and DC metropolitan area, the FHA loan limit is at it’s current maximum for one unit properties, which is $362,790.  There is  currently a lot of talk about raising this limit in congress, this would really help people with subprime loans with higher loan amounts refinance.  This would also open up a lot of houses in this area to be financed by FHA that cannot currently get FHA loans.

Don’t know what the FHA loan limit is for your area? Here is a great place to find out:  https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm?CFID=6417740&CFTOKEN=1115e20-000b65b8-3ce9-171e-b196-80f015600000

The other loan limit terms that you might hear and/or need to know about are conforming loan limits.  A conforming loan means that it can be bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the 2 largest investors on the secondary mortgage market.  That limit is currently $417,000 for single family homes and has been at that number since January 2006.  It’s interesting to look at a history of the conforming loan limit, in 2000 it was only $252,000.

Jumbo loans then, are “non-conforming” meaning they can’t be bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  Any loans that are over $417,000 fall into this category.  There’s no industry specific limit on how high these go, but once you get over the $1-$1.5 million mark things become trickier. 

Now when you hear those terms bandied about, you will be a little more aware of what they mean.