Question about NFCU loans

[brbmake]

This might be long and somewhat hard to understand....so I apologize.

Hubby and I are looking to buy a house.  We make about 180k a year combined and our mid-mortgage FICO scores are both around 770.  We initally talked to a mortgage lender thru the real estate agent we are going to be working with.  He looked at all our info and said we'd be approved up to $720k.  He did not actually do any pre-approval, this was just him running numbers for us. 

Anyway, we decided to apply thru NFCU because we have heard amazing things about them.  Hubby called to do the initial ask over the phone with me sitting next to him.  They asked how much we wanted, which kind of surprised me a bit.  I just assumed that they would look at your info and give you a "cap" like the other guy did.  Well, hubby said $425k.  I tried arguing with him a little because houses around us that have what we want go for between 400-500k.  I thought to error on the side of more, but hubby said he wanted it to ideally be around that.  <eyeroll>.  I do too, because we like to do other things and I'd rather spend less, but whatever.  Anyway, so they had us do the normal loan application, not the jumbo.  The split between the 2 is right around 450k.  

Here is my question as we are waiting to hear from them.  Since that is the number hubby gave, will we be "capped" at that, or do they run the numbers just like the regular mortgage guy and then determine if you are in a regular or jumbo loan based on the house you choose? If we find a house for more than 425k, or even more than the regular loan, do we have to fill out a whole new application?

THANKS!

[MauiMan85297]

Same app is fine, you always want to go higher initially as it's easier to come down then to go up.  It's just that more than $453,100 is considered Jumbo unless in a higher area (CA, HI, etc).  If you needed more than what you asked for they would just re-do the numbers as long as the income is there.

[Anonymous]

I always use a prequal letter with an amount lower than my cap amount. It helps keep the realtors from showing you houses that would stretch your budget. If you tell realtors 200k they'll try to spend 225k. More money more commission

[Anonymous]

When I applied with them a few weeks ago my preapproval letter was exactly for what I asked for.  I too like you expected it to be for the most I would be approved for but the same thing also happened when we went with a different lender for an FHA loan.   

Word of advice, if you are trying for the homebuyers choice be prepared for the outrageous fees they charge.  It may be no down payment but they make up for that in fees on the closing costs.