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2011 FHA and VA Loan Limits for Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County 2011 VA loan limits dropped to $700,000, as did Orange county,  The 2011 VA loan limits for Ventura County was set at $562.500.  Riverside and San Bernandino counties' limits remain at $417,000. These loan limits are the maximum base mortgage amount for a zero-down VA home loan.

2011 FHA loan limits for Los Anegeles County are $729.750 as is Orange County.  Riverside and San Bernandino Counties have an 2011 FHA loan limit of $500,000.

View the full list of 2011 VA loan limits for California counties.

VA mortgages allow veterans to borrow above the county loan limit if the buyer has a down payment.  You can use this VA mortgage down payment requirement formula to calculate the amount needed.  Los Angeles County homebuyers have found VA loans to be a particularly good option for loan amounts up to $1,000,000, because of the low down payment requirement, in 2009 and 2010.

VA loans do not require private mortgage insurance (PMI) because they are insured by the VA, which collects a funding fee from the buyer.  This makes most VA loans a less expensive option than FHA or conventional loans, where PMI is required.

Memoirs of a Los Angeles Homebuyer Circa 1896

Republished from "The House, An Episode in the Lives of Reuben Baker, Astronomer, and of his Wife Alice"  written by Eugene Field,  published in 1896, and now in public domain.

I recall that one of the first wishes I heard Alice express during our honeymoon was that we should sometime be rich enough to be able to build a dear little house for ourselves.  We were poor, of course; otherwise our air castle would not have been a "dear little house"; it would have been a palatial residence with a dance-hall at the top and a wine-cellar at the bottom thereof.  I have always observed that when the money comes in, the poetry flies out.  Bread and cheese and kisses are all well enough for poverty-stricken romance, but if ever a poor man receives a windfall, his thoughts turn inevitably to a contemplation of the probability of terrapin and canvasbacks.

Memoirs of a Los Angeles Homebuyer Circa 1883

Republished from "A Southern California Paradise"  written Clniton B. Ripley, and included in a collection of essays compiled by R. W. C. Farnsworth, published in 1883, and now in public domain.

A house, to be comfortable, need not be constructed with such precautions against the extremes of heat and cold as in other places, but that every family should have a house of some description, costing as it may from $250 to $25,000, according to the means and tastes of the owner, is a fact that cannot be denied.

Houses of every style of architecture, and of all sizes, are found in Los Angeles and the surrounding communities.  Wood is used almost universally as a building material.  Very few brick structures are found outside of the larger cities.  Each man builds a house of just such a style as he may fancy, there being no attempt at uniformity of design.  Yet, if there be one kind of a house more popular than nother in this locality, as well as in all parts of California, it is a one-story cottage with all the rooms on one floor and massed around an entrance hall as a common center.

Such houses are very convenient, as they obviate the necessity of climbing stairs, which is a strong plea in their favor.  They present an exterior cozy and comfortable in appearance, and really deserve the popularity which they has aquired.  Verandas are frequently buiult on two or more sides of a house, if the owner's means will alow.  "The pleasantest part of a house is its veranda", is a common expression in California.

Memoirs of a Los Angeles Homebuyer Circa 1883

Republished from "A Southern California Paradise"  written Clniton B. Ripley, and included in a collection of essays compiled by R. W. C. Farnsworth, published in 1883, and now in public domain.

To live under one's one vine and fig-tree in a neat, comfortable home, fitted with all the conveniences of modern times, is a possibility in Los Angeles and its environs.  Houses of all kinds, from the humblest cottage to the stately mansion, are to be seen, some peeping out from luxuriant foliage, half concealed by shubbery, which is perhaps, not yet two years old; others rising grandly from soem eminence, and comparing favorably with the homes of wealth in older places.

To those seeking homes in this locality, the statement that "houses are built and homes are made"; homes made which meet the wants, real and fancied, of all who come, is not enough.  The careful man who proposes to invest his money in a home wants to know the cost of building, the kinds of building materials, where they are obtained, and many other important items, which this writer, having practical knowledge of the subject, will endeavor to furnish.

I would first attempt to correct the erroneous impression which seems to have gone out over the many States from which we derive our population, that any kind of a shelter is sufficient for a house in Southern California.  It is true that from April to October rains rarely ever fall, and the shade of a tree many suffice for a shelter; but this is not a home.  It may do for a brief period while a house is being erected, but will not prove satisfactory for a very long time, unless the gypsy yearning develops faster than usual.

Memoirs of a Los Angeles Homebuyer Circa 1874

Republished from "A Southern California Paradise"  written by an anonymous author and included in a collection of essays by R. W. C. Farnsworth, published in 1883, and now in public domain.

An Early Settler's Experience

I arrived in Los Angeles in June, 1874, in feeble health.  Could find no house to go into, so concluded to camp until I could get a small house built.  A carpet thrown over a limb of our big oak made a fine tent, and in that I lived with wife and daughter a jolly life for six weeks.  By that time I had grown strong enough to "grub up" greasewood for fuel supply.  When we finally got into our "board and battened" fourteen by twenty house, I could not for several nights sleep comfortably in it; it felt too close, although at first we had only blankets in place of doors and windows.  This little house, intended to serve for only a year or two, is still, after nine years, our only shelter, we having added to it small porches, a shed here, and a little room there.

One great advantage of these cheap houses is the ease with which you can make changes about them, -- put in a new window, change a door from one place to another, cut through a partition to open communication between rooms, or close up others.  Saw, hammer, nails, and ordinary skill are all that are required.  No cleaning up or repairing of plastering about it.  Another advantage is the good ventilation these cloth ceilings afford (perhaps sometimes a little too much for delicate constitutions.)  However, the heat from an oil stove has been all that was necessary to make our room comfortable during the coldest weather we have had.

Editor's note:  Inspired by this post, Rob Mendel, webmaster of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council web site,  created a slideshow of tent homes in the early 1900s.  You can check it out here:  http://www.historichighlandpark.org/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=57&album=8&pos=0
Note: you must register to access the Neighborhood Council site ... registration is free, and there is a lot of great information.