Pro's and Con's of a CalPERS Home Loan

My name is Darrin Matthews I am a Direct CalPERS Lender with Land Home Financial, the difference between direct and other firms is that Land home processes, underwrites and funds the loans in-house rather than having to broker out the loan to another lender whom they don't work for directly. There are many pro's and con's associated with a CalPERS Home Loan. They include:

Pros:

1- Discounted lender fee, most lenders will charge you a substantial processing fee of $600 - $800 and a admin fee of another $600-$800 CalPERS will not allow more than $350.00 to cover both those fees, a great value to our clients.

2- Competitive rates- CalPERS offers both purchase and refinance mortgages at great rates.

3- CalPERS won't let you get taken advantage of by a loan officer trying to overcharge you with points/origination fees, we max out the origination/points to 1% on FHA loans and 1.25% on all other loans, the amount charged is up to the CalPERS loan officer but cannot exceed the above percentages.

4- CalPERS, as of Oct. 19th are now doing loans up to $729,750.00 with the same great rates as loans under $417,000.00. This will allow you to borrow more without dealing with increased fees.

5- CalPERS has participating title companies that give a discount on title fees to CalPERS members. This is another great benefit of a CalPERS Home Loan.

6- CalPERS members also have a benefit when it comes to real estate agents that participate in the program; a percentage of the Realtor's commission gets credited back to you to cover some of the closing costs.

7- The biggest benefit is that CalPERS offers FHA loans with only 3.5% down payment and that 3.5% can come from your retirement as the down payment, the retirement money is not a second mortgage it is a personal loan which is paid back over time, if the amount is under $10,000.00 its paid back over 10 years if it is over $10,000.00 its paid back over 15 years, (the money does not come out of your retirement) To use the money from your retirement there are restrictions ( such as the first loan amount cannot exceed $350,000.00, you can borrow 1/2 of what's in your retirement not to exceed $18,421.00 and no more then 5% of the purchase price.)

Cons:
1- No longer do loans over $729,750.00

2- No longer offer rate float downs

3- Can't borrow money from retirement if the first loan amount is over $350,000.00

The pros totally outweigh the cons with the CalPERS Home Loan Program, you cannot go wrong doing a CalPERS Mortgage because they have their members protected from being taken advantage of.