Buying a new home & closing costs?

My husband & I have been approved for a 5.5% interest rate loan for a new home that will be built by a local builder, who are known for good starter homes. We received a Good Faith Estimate today & were wondering if there is anything at all that we could do on our end to reduce our monthly mortgage payment. IE: what fees listed on the good faith estimate can be waived or negotiated by the lender or builder? And in this case since it isn’t one person selling to us, but rather a home building company, WHO is responsible for the closing costs? Any help appreciated, we are hoping to close in the very near future.
Also, how does an FHA loan work? We have been several people to ask for one. The lender said the GFE given to us was an FHA loan but how can you tell? I don’t see anything about it on the GFE.

Hey, I’m a mortgage broker, too, but I won’t try to sell you a mortgage. I will however do my best to make sure you know what you’re doing. All the fees on the GFE are necessary. If you look, there should be an itemized list of who is getting paid what on the loan. The only two that can be negotiated would be the origination fee and the broker fee, however, by doing this you are robbing your loan officer of his/her paycheck. You are responsible for the closing costs, it’s your home and nobody works for free. On the GFE. there should be a box checked that says whether it is a conventional loan or an FHA, as well there should have been a box checked on the first page of your formal loan application that says what kind of program your lender is using. FHA loans are partially funded by the government, they are also regulated by the govt. the only real differences are that you can have a higher percentage of the value loaned to you, you have to pay a prepaid mortgage insurance premium for the life of the loan, and they require you to escrow your taxes and insurance.

Closing the Deal (Closed Caption)

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