Keystone Lending Partners, Inc.

06/18/2025

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA INCREASING REALTY TRANSFER TAX

If you’ve ever bought or sold property in Philly, you’ve paid the Realty Transfer Tax. This is a tax collected at closing, and is typically split between the buyer and seller (unless negotiated otherwise), based on the sale price of the property.

Up until now, Philadelphia’s city portion of the tax has been 3.278%. Combined with the state’s 1% transfer tax, that brought the total to 4.278%.

Starting July 1, 2025, the city is increasing its portion to 3.578%—raising the total transfer tax to 4.578%.

That’s a 0.3% increase citywide. On a $500,000 property, that’s an extra $1,500 in taxes.

12/31/2024

From your friends at Keystone Lending Partners, May the New Year bring you peace, joy, and endless happiness. Wishing you a wonderful year ahead!

05/27/2024

In memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we offer our deepest respect and gratitude.

04/03/2024

Credit score is one of the main drivers in determining what mortgage interest rate can be offered to a client. We thought it would be beneficial to share the factors that go into calculating an individual’s credit score.

Payment history (35%)
The first thing any lender wants to know is whether you have paid past credit accounts on time. This helps a lender figure out the amount of risk it will take on when extending credit. This is the most important factor in a credit score.

Amounts owed (30%)
Having credit accounts and owing money on them does not necessarily mean you are a high-risk borrower with a low credit score. However, if you are using a lot of your available credit, this may indicate that you are overextended—and banks can interpret this to mean that you are at a higher risk of defaulting.

Length of credit history (15%)
In general, having a longer credit history is positive for your credit score, but is not required for a good credit score.
Your credit score takes into account:
• How long your credit accounts have been established, including the age of your oldest account, the age of your newest account and an average age of all your accounts
• How long specific credit accounts have been established
• How long it has been since you used certain accounts

Credit mix (10%)
Credit score will consider your mix of credit cards, retail accounts, installment loans, finance company accounts and mortgage loans. Don’t worry, it's not necessary to have one of each.

New credit (10%)
Research shows that opening several credit accounts in a short amount of time represents a greater risk—especially for people who don't have a long credit history.

03/01/2024

A home loan is too important to leave to amateurs — or a big bank who doesn't have your best interests in mind. Choose Keystone Lending Partners, Inc. as your independent mortgage broker. We offer competitive rates along with personalized service. Let's chat today.

02/19/2024

Presidents Day is a reminder that hard work pays off. Fortunately, we do that hard work for you. As you search for your perfect home, I'll search for competitive loan options to ensure a fast and easy homebuying process for you. Let's get started today!

01/02/2024

Wishing all of our clients and business partners a healthy, happy and prosperous 2024!!!!

12/08/2023

11/28/2023

FHFA Announces Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2024
Baseline Conforming Loan Limit Value Will Increase to $766,550
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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced the conforming loan limit values (CLLs) for mortgages Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will acquire in 2024. In most of the United States, the 2024 CLL value for one-unit properties will be $766,550, an increase of $40,350 from 2023.

National Baseline

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) requires FHFA to adjust the Enterprises’ baseline CLL value each year to reflect the change in the average U.S. home price. Earlier today, FHFA published its third quarter 2023 FHF​A House Price Index® (FHFA HPI) report, which includes statistics for the increase in the average U.S. home value over the last four quarters. According to the nominal, seasonally adjusted, expanded-data FHFA HPI, house prices increased 5.56 percent, on average, between the third quarters of 2022 and 2023. Therefore, the baseline CLL in 2024 will increase by the same percentage.

11/22/2023

Keystone Lending Partners would like to wish all of our clients a Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you relax and enjoy this time with your families!!!

10/31/2023

Remember when searching for homes, to ask about the ages of major appliances and home systems. 🧰