What is a Jumbo Loan?

A jumbo loan is a mortgage that exceeds specific dollar amounts set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. What’s considered a jumbo mortgage depends on where the property is located. For most places in the U.S., a mortgage on a 1-unit property is considered a jumbo loan if it exceeds $417,000. However, in places like Hawaii and in certain high-cost counties, jumbo loans may have even higher limits. For example, in San Francisco county, a loan is only considered “jumbo” if it exceeds $625,500 (even though the median house price is much higher than that).

Most lenders offer both fixed-rate and variable-rate jumbo loans.

Why do jumbo loans matter?

The main reason that jumbo loans even matter is because many lenders treat jumbo mortgages differently from non-jumbo loans (also called conforming loans). Compared to conforming loans, jumbo loans may have different:

• Interest rates
• Underwriting and credit guidelines
• Minimum down payment requirements
• Reserve requirements

All else being equal, this means that it may be harder to qualify for a jumbo loan from some lenders.

What about jumbo loans at SoFi?

With SoFi, there’s no such thing as a “jumbo loan.” We offer the same great rates and experience no matter how much or how little you need to borrow. Our goal is to accelerate your success.

• SoFi offers 15-year fixed-rate, 30-year fixed-rate, and 7/1 adjustable-rate mortgages on primary residence or second homes
  If you’re shopping for a home, SoFi lets you put as little as 10% down with no PMI on loans up to $3 million.
• If you’re refinancing, you can cash out up to 65% of your property’s value
  SoFi doesn’t charge any application, origination, or lender fees.