> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Fed Holds Rates Again: New 2024 Loan Limits and 5% Down on 2-4 Unit Homes - URL: https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/fed-holds-rates-again-new-2024-loan-limits-and-5-down-on-2-4-unit-homes/ - Published: 2023-12-13T21:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-04T17:23:51.000Z - Description: The Fed held for a third straight meeting and mortgage rates had already fallen almost a full point in six weeks. Debbie covers Fannie Mae's new 5% down program for 2-4 unit homes, the 2024 conforming loan limit increases, and her pro tips for buying and selling next year. - Author: Deborah Marcoux - Tags: Podcast, Mortgage Mom Radio, #episode-backfill Mortgage Mom Radio • “Fed announced today they are holding rates again” • Live show from Wednesday, December 13, 2023 • 60 minutes • Hosted by Debbie Marcoux, NMLS #237926 The Fed met the morning of this show and held rates for the third straight meeting — and mortgage rates had already fallen almost a full point over the preceding six weeks. Debbie covers what the hold actually signals, then spends the hour on the practical news: Fannie Mae's new 5% down program for 2–4 unit homes, the 2024 conforming loan limit increases, a program most people have never heard of for buying a home for a disabled child or an elderly parent, and her pro tips for buying and selling in the year ahead. ## Key takeaways - **Third straight hold, and no hike since July 2023.** The Fed left rates unchanged, which is what nearly everyone expected, and kept the language flexible enough to reserve the right to raise again. Debbie's read: it feels like they're done, and now we work through “higher for longer” while inflation heads toward the 2% target. - **Rates already moved without the Fed.** Mortgage rates fell almost a full percentage point over six weeks — from the mid-to-low eights down into the low sevens and even the high sixes on some scenarios. Refinance applications jumped **19%** and purchase applications **4%**. - **New: 5% down on a 2–4 unit home you live in.** A duplex used to require 15% down even as a primary residence, and a 3–4 unit required 25%. Now it's 5% down if you occupy one unit. Three conditions: 12 months of documented on-time rent (cash rent won't work), rental income from the units you don't occupy can offset the payment but can't exceed it, and you need six months of full payment in reserves after down payment and closing costs. - **2024 loan limits went up.** The national conforming limit rose from $726,200 to **$766,550**. In high-cost counties like Los Angeles and Orange, the one-unit limit is about **$1,149,000**. Multi-unit limits in those counties run higher still — roughly **$1.472 million** for two units, **$1.779 million** for three, and **$2.211 million** for four. Pair the four-unit limit with 5% down and the math gets interesting. - **Veterans can buy up to four units with zero down.** Reserves are required, and if you've never been a landlord you'll need a signed property management contract — but it doesn't disqualify you. - **Buyer pro tips:** consider a lower-priced market if you can work remotely or transfer; bring your expectations down and buy the condo or townhome rather than staying on the shelf; get fully prepared so you can act fast; and know your real payment including taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance — not the principal-and-interest number a listing calculator shows you. - **Seller pro tips:** work with an experienced local agent and price it right, do the cleanup and decluttering before listing, invest in the online curb appeal including a video tour and a 3D floor plan, and offer to buy the buyer's rate down instead of cutting your price. ## Chapters - 01:00Welcome and how to join the show live - 03:00The Fed holds rates again — what today's decision means - 05:00Rates have fallen almost a full point in six weeks - 06:00Refinance applications up 19%, purchases up 4% - 11:00Q&A: loans for a disabled child or an elderly parent - 15:00Fannie Mae's new 5% down on 2–4 unit homes - 17:00Rent history, rental income and six months of reserves - 21:00Q&A: is this available in Washington state? - 24:00Q&A: can a veteran buy multi-unit properties? - 26:00The new 2024 conforming loan limits - 27:00High-cost county limits and multi-unit limits - 31:00Q&A: are there grants that work with these programs? - 33:00Four pro tips for buying in 2024 - 43:00Home equity loan or refinance? The blended rate - 45:00Five pro tips for selling in 2024 - 55:00Q&A: does a buydown help a buyer qualify for more? ## Questions answered on this show ### “Are there loan programs for families with special needs — a disabled child or elderly parents?” Yes, and most people have never heard of it. If you have a disabled child or elderly parents, you can buy a second property and finance it as a *primary residence* — which normally wouldn't be allowed — with as little as 5% down through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, instead of the 20–25% an investment property would require. It applies to any documented disability, autism included, where there's paperwork such as Social Security or state benefits. For elderly parents, the test is different: they can have pension, retirement and Social Security income, but we have to show their income isn't enough for them to qualify for financing on their own. The same program works for a refinance, so if you already bought a home for a parent or child at investment-property rates and terms, you may be able to refinance it at primary-residence pricing. ### “Is the 5% down program available in Washington state?” Yes. Both the 5% down 2–4 unit program and the disabled-child/elderly-parent program are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs, which means they're available in all 50 states. Debbie's office is licensed in California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and several more, so they can help directly in Washington. If you're in a state they aren't licensed in, they'll try to refer you to someone who is, or show you the best way to search. ### “Can veterans buy multi-unit properties?” Yes — and Debbie calls VA the best program in lending. A veteran can buy up to four units with zero down. The stipulations: reserves are required, the same way they are on the Fannie Mae program, and if you haven't been a landlord before you'll need to sign a contract with a property management company to handle the units. Not having landlord experience doesn't opt you out of the program. ### “Are there grants that work with these programs?” There's no single yes or no, because every state, city and county has its own grants and down payment assistance programs. They can generally be combined with the loan programs discussed here — the question is whether the right program exists where you're buying. Call with the city, county and state you're shopping in and the office will look up what's available in that specific area. ### “Does buying the rate down let a buyer qualify for more house?” No — not with a temporary buydown. Lenders still have to qualify you at the full note rate. If the rate is 6.875% and the seller buys it down to 4.875% for year one and 5.875% for year two, you're still qualified at 6.875%. What it changes is what a buyer is *willing* to do. Plenty of people say they can't do $500,000 at 6.875%, but when the first two years come in at 4.875% and 5.875% — with worst case being the 6.875% they were already qualified for — they say yes. That's what brings buyers back to a price range. ## This week's numbers (week of December 13, 2023 — averages, not quotes) - Fed funds target: **unchanged** for the third consecutive meeting; no increase since July 2023 - Mortgage rates over the prior six weeks: down **almost a full percentage point**, from the mid-to-low eights into the low sevens and high sixes on some scenarios - Mortgage applications: refinances **+19%**, purchases **+4%** - 2024 national conforming loan limit: **$766,550**, up from $726,200 - 2024 high-cost one-unit limit (Los Angeles, Orange County): about **$1,149,000** - 2024 high-cost multi-unit limits: about **$1.472M** (2 units), **$1.779M** (3 units), **$2.211M** (4 units) - Average 30-year mortgage rate over the last three decades, for context: about **7%** *Your rate depends on FICO score, property type, loan balance, and loan purpose. These are national conforming averages for context, not a quote.* ### See what the new limits and the 5% down program mean for you Call [844-935-3634](tel:8449353634) (844-WE-LEND-4), [start an application](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/apply/), or run your numbers with the [mortgage calculators](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/tools/). Get the weekly rate rundown in the [newsletter](https://www.mortgagemomradio.com/newsletter/). Full transcript (lightly edited for clarity) *Auto-generated captions cleaned for readability. Commercial breaks and repeated housekeeping have been trimmed; licensing information appears at the bottom of this page.* ### The Fed holds again Welcome to Mortgage Mom Radio. I'm Debbie Marcoux, I am the Mortgage Mom, and every week I bring you everything going on with all things real estate and mortgage — what's happening with interest rates, what's happening with the Federal Reserve, what we see coming. Today was a big day. The Federal Reserve had another meeting and came out and said they are going to hold rates once again. They did not increase and they did not decrease, which is what most experts in the field were expecting. Everybody, for the last six weeks since the last meeting, anticipated another hold. They continue to say they'll hold rates higher for longer in order to keep working on inflation and get it down to the 2% range they're targeting. It was great news that they didn't increase. They did leave some movement in the language — they're reserving the right to keep rates where they are or, if required, do another increase. But it's not looking that way at this point. It feels as though they're done, we've hit the maximum they're going to push us to, and now we just have to get through higher for longer. They have not increased rates since July of this year, and July of 2023 gave us the highest rates we have seen. The nice part is they're holding steady and the clock on higher for longer has already started. We're anticipating a couple of rate decreases in 2024, which is phenomenal. One thing we've already seen is the rapid decline. Rates have started to fall — we've come down almost an entire point. We were, believe it or not, in the mid eights and low eights for quite some time, and we're now in the low sevens and even the higher 6% ranges on some scenarios. That's coming back to a normal peace of mind. We all know the average rate over the last 30 years has actually been about 7%. We just got so comfortable with the twos and threes, and from about 2010 to 2019 we were mostly in the fours and fives. That's what our generation has seen historically, so a six starts to feel like hope. A lot of people have jumped into starting applications for refinances, and even purchase applications have increased. We've seen a 19% jump in mortgage applications for refinances and a 4% jump in applications for purchases. That gives us a lot of hope that 24 is going to be a much better year than 2023 was. ### Buying a home for a disabled child or an elderly parent A question came in during the break: are there any loans specific to special needs families? Yes — this is one of those programs that isn't a big article in the news, so a lot of people forget it's available. If you have a disabled child, or elderly parents, you can purchase a second property and have it treated as a primary residence. Say you live in your home and the neighbor's house comes up for sale, and you're thinking your disabled child really needs space of their own — some independence, but close to you. Or you have elderly parents, same street, same neighborhood, a mile away. Normally, owning a home and then buying a second property as an additional primary residence wouldn't be allowable. With this, it is. You can buy that home with a minimum down payment of 5% through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, instead of having to come up with 20 or 25% down to purchase it as an investment property. The follow-up question was whether that includes autism. If your child is considered disabled — and there's paperwork for that — it doesn't matter what the reason is. It could be autism, it could be Down syndrome, it could be an accident that left them wheelchair bound. If there's Social Security or some sort of state-provided benefit we can document, that's generally going to be enough. On elderly parents, let me push on that a little. This is for parents who can still take care of themselves but don't have the financial means to qualify to buy their own property. We're going to ask for copies of their income to see that they don't have enough — they can have a pension, they can have Social Security, they can have all of those things, but what we're looking for is that they can't get the financing on their own. That's what qualifies you to do the financing for them and get them into those lower rates and lower down payments. You can use the same program for a refinance too. If you bought a property for a parent or child as an investment home and took a much higher rate than you would have on a primary, call us — we can refinance it at primary residence guidelines, with primary residence pricing and down payments. ### Fannie Mae's new 5% down on 2–4 units This one I think is phenomenal. Previously, a two-unit property — even as a primary residence, even a duplex you were going to live in — required 15% down. A three- or four-unit primary residence required 25% down. You can now get in with 5% down. So if you want to buy a two-to-four unit property, live in one unit and rent the others out, 5% down is now on the table. Here's what you need to know. First, if you haven't previously owned a home and there's no mortgage on your credit report for us to verify payment history, we need proof that you've made your rent on time for the last 12 months. Whether you pay by app or write a check, we need to verify those payments. If you pay cash for rent, you're not going to qualify for this program — you have to be able to prove the ability to pay. Second, we can use rental income from the units you would not be living in to help you qualify. We won't count income on the unit you occupy. We also can't give you more income than the total monthly payment on the property — but we can offset the debt with the additional rents, which helps you buy into a bigger price range. That matters, because two-to-four unit properties are typically more expensive than a single family home or condo. Third, you need reserves. We look at the total monthly payment for the property — principal, interest, taxes and insurance, the entire nut. Say it's $4,000 a month. After you've paid your down payment and covered your closing costs, you need an additional six months of that payment sitting in an account. A lot of people get confused by reserves and think we're going to do something with the money, put it aside, hold it for ransom. We're not. We just have to verify that at the time of closing, those funds are available in some account — even a retirement account you have the ability to tap into. But you do have to have them. That program opens up a lot of people who could start looking at units, whether it's a first purchase or you're in a condo today and you're ready to buy a duplex. ### Where these programs are available A question came in from someone in Washington state. Both the 5% down unit program and the disabled child and elderly parent program are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs, which means they're available across the nation, in all 50 states. And we are licensed in Washington, so we'd love to help you there. Good time to remind everybody that we're licensed in quite a few states. This show is on YouTube, which people watch in many different places, and it's a podcast you can find wherever you find podcasts. We tried to get as many licenses as we could — California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and more. If you call and it's a state we can't help in, we'll at least try to refer you to someone there or give you the best way to search. ### Veterans and multi-unit properties Another question: can veterans buy multi-units? Vets have a really great program — I say the best program in lending, and they have absolutely earned and deserve it. You can buy units as a vet with zero down, all the way up to four units. There are stipulations. They do need reserves, just like I talked about with the Fannie Mae program. And they need a history of being a landlord — if they haven't been one before, it doesn't opt them out, but they do have to sign up with a property management company to handle the units once they close and move in. We need to see that management contract. But zero down for up to four units is fabulous. ### The new 2024 loan limits The national loan limit was $726,200\. It has now been raised to $766,550, and that's for almost all areas across the United States. They're in effect right now — we can already lock those loans. Some areas have higher limits because they're considered high cost. Los Angeles County is high cost, Orange County is high cost, and those go all the way up to about $1,149,000\. Remember, that's the *loan* limit, not the purchase price. If you're buying with 5% down in Los Angeles or Orange County, you can go to a higher sales price on top of that limit. So you can get into a home worth almost a million two with 5% down. Units are really interesting, because units get higher loan limits than a single family home or condo. In Los Angeles or Orange County, a two-unit property can go to a loan amount of about $1.472 million. A three-unit limit is about $1.779 million, and four units about $2.211 million. Think about that: a $2.2 million loan amount on a four-unit, with 5% down on top of it. Remember, the 5% down program has to be owner occupied. It's not for someone who wants to buy a four-unit purely as an investment. It's for someone who wants to live in one unit and rent out the others. So: the Fed is leaving rates alone, rates have come down almost a full percent over the last six weeks, and refinance applications are up. If you're thinking, who would be refinancing right now — you're probably also someone who's been thinking you need to refinance. Call us and we'll help you determine whether now is a good time or whether you should wait for rates to reach a certain level. ### Grants and down payment assistance Another question: are there grants that work with these programs? I can't give you a straight yes or no, because every single state, city and county has different grants and down payment assistance programs. Every state has some sort of housing program, cities have housing programs, counties have housing programs. They can be combined — it's a matter of whether the right one exists where you're buying. Call the office, tell us where you're looking, and we'll look up your area, your city, your county and your state to see what's available to you. ### Four pro tips for buying in 2024 **One: consider a lower-priced market if you can switch jobs or work remotely.** A lot of people have been moving since the pandemic to areas where things are less expensive. If you can work remotely and you'd love a single family home but your area is just too expensive, start exploring where you could move and find that home in a price range that makes the payment affordable. I have a lot of clients who did job transfers to less expensive areas and got exactly what they wanted. **Two — and this goes with it: bring your expectations down.** Prices have held steady even with rates going through the roof. Rates are starting to come back down, and realistically home values are probably going to continue to rise. Think about it this way: if you wanted to buy two years ago and told yourself you'd wait for rates to come down, you put yourself up on a shelf. Had you bought two years ago, you'd have more equity today, because the home is worth more than it was. As rates come down, more buyers come to market, there's more competition, and that pushes values up further. So don't stay on the shelf. Bring your expectation down. Maybe you can't get the three- or four-bedroom single family home — find a condo. Get homeownership. When rates come down further, you refinance that condo, drop the payment, maybe put a renter in it, and then go buy the single family home. Now you've started a real estate portfolio. And don't worry about using up some first-time buyer benefit. The Fannie Mae 5% down program is not limited to first-time buyers. FHA at 3.5% down is not a first-time buyer program. A lot of people worry they'll burn their one low-down-payment option on something they didn't want and then need 20% down for the next one. That's absolutely not true. We have low down payment programs as long as it's owner occupied. **Three: get all your ducks in a row in advance so you can act fast.** Review your financial situation, gather your documents, shop multiple lenders, strengthen your credit score. As rates come down — and they've already come down almost a whole percent — more people get excited, more people come to market, and there's more competition for the properties that are available. If you're not pre-approved, if you haven't talked to a loan officer, if you don't know how much you qualify for or how much cash you need, you'll watch the property come up and you won't be ready to make an offer. **Four: check prices and listings constantly.** Once you know your price range, be Johnny on the spot. Find a great real estate agent and get on their drip campaign so you get an email every time a new home hits the market. Set up your saved searches on Redfin and Realtor.com. Sometimes a for-sale-by-owner shows up on Zillow that won't be in the MLS for your agent to send you, so have everything everywhere. The faster you know something is available, the faster you can see it, and the more chance you have of getting your offer accepted. **And know your real monthly payment** — complete with taxes and insurance — and how it fits your budget. This is my 30th year in the business coming into 2024, and one of my biggest recurring problems is buyers who fall in love with a property after running a payment on a listing site's calculator. What they ran was principal and interest. They didn't run principal, interest, taxes and insurance, and if they had less than 20% down they had no idea what mortgage insurance was or that it belonged in the number. Know the actual payment so you're budgeting appropriately. ### Home equity loan or refinance? Look at the blended rate A follower asked whether a home equity loan is better than a refinance. It truly depends — on your blended rate. If your current mortgage balance is $400,000 at 3% and you need $50,000 or $100,000 to pay off debt, the rate on a second mortgage is going to be significantly higher, especially in today's environment. But the majority of what you owe is at 3%. Blend 3% on $400,000 with 10% on $50,000 or $100,000 and it's much, much cheaper to keep those loans separate. Now say you want a big home improvement project that costs about $300,000, and you have that same $400,000 balance at 3%. That's almost the same amount of money at each rate. Blend 3% and 10% on roughly equal balances and the effective rate is higher than if you just did a straight full refinance. So it depends on your scenario, and it's exactly the kind of math to run with us. ### Five pro tips for selling in 2024 **One: work with a real estate agent and get your pricing right.** A lot of realtors are calling this a tornado market — one home on the street sells fast and easy, and the next one sits and sits. The biggest reason for that difference is pricing. Work with someone experienced who knows your area, ideally someone who farms your neighborhood. Don't shoot for the moon and don't try to be the highest sale that's ever happened in your neighborhood. Be realistic: what sold most recently, how does it compare in size and upgrades? Priced correctly, you get more buyers excited, more offers written, and then you have multiple offers and a bidding war. **Two: get your home in shape to sell.** A lot of people skip the cleanup effort. Something as simple as a fresh coat of paint inside makes the property show so much nicer. And declutter — get everything off the kitchen counters except the coffee maker and the toaster. I know you love your beautiful towels and your trinkets, and I'm sure it's gorgeous, but that's not what sells. Make the space look clean and open. Rent a storage unit if you have to, box things up, clean out the garage. **Three: set up your home's online curb appeal.** Most realtors have a good photographer they bring in when they take a listing. In today's world, probably 90% of buyers are surfing Realtor.com, Redfin, Zillow and Trulia looking at photos, and sometimes the pictures don't do the home justice. Make sure the photos are genuinely good. **Four: include a video tour and a 3D floor plan.** When you look at photos online, you're doing your best to piece together the flow of a house, and it's hard to understand what's where. So many people decide yes or no — whether they'll even get in the car to see it — based on how it looks online. An interactive floor plan solves that. **Five: offer an incentive to buy the buyer's rate down.** If your home is sitting, or you want it sold quickly, be the seller who puts it in the listing: willing to help the buyer buy down their interest rate. That gets buyers excited. We have programs like a two-year buydown, and knowing rates are already starting to come down, that gets a buyer into a payment today that they might not otherwise be able to secure for another year or two. Most economists believe we'll see rates coming down in 24 and 25, hitting their lowest levels in 26 — we don't have a crystal ball and that could change, but over the next two to three years we should see rates come down. One of my listeners made a great point on this: buying the buyer's rate down rather than reducing the price means the seller comes out ahead in the long run, because the home records at the higher sale price. I agree. Getting the price you want helps keep the market stable, it helps the next seller, and it keeps your neighborhood's values up — while still giving the buyer the incentive they need to afford the payment today. Someone also asked whether buying the rate down lets a buyer qualify for more. It doesn't — not on a temporary buydown. We have to qualify them at the higher number. Say rates today are 6.875%. The seller buys it down to 4.875% for year one and 5.875% for year two, and it returns to 6.875% in year three. We still qualify them at 6.875%. But what it does do is change what people are willing to accept. I have a lot of buyers who say $500,000 is where they want to be, and at 6.875% they say nope, can't afford it. Then we say, how about $500,000 at 4.875%, and 5.875% a year from now, and worst case you refinance before year three — and they say wait a minute, I can do that. That's what gets more people looking in that range. ### Wrap-up Looking forward to 2024, I'm very excited. A lot of people can put refinances back on their radar. A lot of people need to put home buying back on their radar. And that in turn gives sellers who were holding out — who didn't want to give up their rate for a much higher one — the opportunity to list, because buydown incentives let them sell and then go buy something else. This is my last show of the year. Next Wednesday is the 20th, so close to Christmas that I don't think anybody cares about real estate or mortgage, and the week after that is the week before New Year's. So I'll be back the first Wednesday of January, and I think buydowns will be a great topic to start with. I want to remind everybody that we live off doing transactions. This show doesn't make me money — it actually costs me money — but I love doing it, because I want to bring you the information and the education, and I love seeing people become homeowners or add their second, third and fourth properties. If you're in the market to buy, sell or refinance, we want to be your first phone call. Text the word MOM to 844-935-3634 — that's 844-WE-LEND-4 — and you'll get one text a week when I go live. Same number for the office, or head over to mortgagemomradio.com. Happy holidays, everybody. I'll see you in 2024\. Talk to you all real soon. Debbie Marcoux is licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act, NMLS ID #237926, and additionally licensed in AZ (0941504), FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, NV, NC, OR, TN, TX, and WA. Rates and figures discussed were current as of the air date of December 13, 2023, reflect national conforming averages, and are not an offer of credit or a rate quote. Debbie Marcoux is not a financial advisor; consult qualified professionals about your individual situation.