Entries tagged with “HUD”.
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Wed 4 Aug 2010
Posted by karen under FHA
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There’s been a lot of conversation about changing the
structure of FHA loans–and we wanted to let you know
it hasn’t happened…yet!
Here’s a quick synopsis on HUD Press Release 10-150:
HUD Seeks Public Comment on Three Initiatives to Boost FHA Capital Reserves
HUD is accepting comment on the following policy changes:
1. 10% down payment requirement for new FHA borrowers with credit score below 580.
2. Seller concessions to be reduced from 6% to 3%.
3. Tighter UW standards for manual underwrites.
#2 is giving many of us heartburn as it will be the very audience HUD swears to serve, the affordable housing market, that will suffer the most with this change. We would love to see tiered system come out of this instead of a flat across-the-board 3%.
Here is the link to the actual notice in the Federal Register:
Speak now - or forever wish you had!
Make some noise!
Tags: changes, comments, congress, credit, down, FHA, HUD, payment, policy, score, tighter, underwriting
Wed 9 Jun 2010
Posted by Tracey Rumsey under FHA
No Comments
We just got done telling you for the last 5 months that the only way we could do a VA loan on a condo was if the project was on the VA approved list. This change is a big deal for the next 6 months and will open up the number of properties available to veteran buyers.
It’s good news, although it will only help us with VA condo loans on most FHA approved projects until December 7 of this year. That’s because the majority of FHA approved projects (those approved prior to October 1, 2008) have to be recertified under the new guidelines (the ones that VA doesn’t like) by December 7.
So for now, it is possible to do a VA loan on a condo under one of the following circumstances:
1. The project is on the VA approved list. http://condopudbuilder.vba.va.gov/2.2/frames.html]
2. The project is on the FHA approved list and was approved before December 7, 2009. : https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm]
At least it may save a few deals between now and then.
Fri 5 Mar 2010
Posted by Tracey Rumsey under FHA
No Comments
HUD says “Hold Off” on your audited financials
(the rules are changing soon)
As proposed in a November 30, 2009, proposed rule (74 FR 62521), HUD is seeking to eliminate FHA approval for loan correspondents. Because this rulemaking is still in process and a final rule has not yet been issued, FHA is extending the deadline for the submission of audited financial statements for loan correspondents seeking renewal of their FHA lender approval for 2010. For loan correspondents with a fiscal year end of December 31, and that would ordinarily be required to renew their FHA approval by March 31, 2010, HUD is providing these lenders with an additional 30 days in which to submit their audited financial statements. These loan correspondents must continue to comply with existing requirements for the submission of their Annual Certifications and renewal fees, but will be given until April 30, 2010, to submit audited financial statements. Again, the deadline for the submission of the Annual Certification and renewal fee has not been changed. Loan correspondents that do not complete their renewal in accordance with the deadlines as specified above will no longer be FHA-approved as of the effective date of the final rule that follows the November 30, 2009, proposed rule.
Many loan correspondents will get caught in a timing fiasco as they won’t want to lose their ability to do FHA loans but will have to pay fees to retain the privilege. A privilege that will be taken away from them in the near future. Then they’ll be scrambling to find a lender to accept them into the “fold” (which may still require audited financials) in order to continue originating FHA loans. Tough stuff.
Mon 8 Feb 2010
Posted by karen under Compliance
No Comments
Here’s the link to download the January 28, 2010 RESPA FAQ.
34 questions/clarifications - changes are in BOLD LETTERS - Answered some questions that were hangin’ out there!
www.hud.gov/respa
Tue 26 Jan 2010
Posted by karen under Compliance
No Comments
Title: HUD Settlement Costs Booklet Revised 1-6-2010
Post:
Here’s the link - looks like some minor changes to the booklet. I have not had a chance to read what the changes are, but if you ordered booklets from HUD, you might want to double check and make sure you received the lastest version. P.S. I ordered my HUD booklets January 8 and have not received them yet. They said it would take 5-10 days.
http://hud.gov/utilities/intercept.cfm?/offices/hsg/ramh/res/Settlement-Booklet-January-6-REVISED.pdf
Wed 20 Jan 2010
Posted by admin under FHA
[2] Comments
Here’s the entire HUD announcement that appears on their website. No implementation date yet–but looks like late spring/early summer.
So what do you do now?
Get those home buyers OFF THE FENCE–
it’s simply going to cost them more money if they don’t act now!
Here’s the condensed version:
1. UFMIP will be increased form 1.75% to 2.25%. The change to occur in spring 2010.
2. Update the combination of FICO scores and LTV maximum:
o FICO’s less than 580 will see down payment requirements increase to 10%
o This change will be announced in the Federal Register for comment
3. Seller contributions will be reduced from 6% to 3% to conform to the conventional market.
4. Increase audits on FHA lenders
————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Here’s The Entire HUD Press Release
http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-016
HUD No.10-016
Melanie Roussell
(202) 708-0980
|
FOR RELEASE
Wednesday
January 20, 2010 |
FHA Announces Policy Changes to Address Risk and Strengthen Finances
New Measures Will Help FHA Better Manage Risk, While Maintaining Support for the Housing Market and Access for Underserved Communities
WASHINGTON – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David Stevens today announced a set of policy changes to strengthen the FHA’s capital reserves, while enabling the agency to continue to fulfill its mission to provide access to homeownership for underserved communities. The changes announced today are the latest in a series of changes Stevens has enacted in order to better position the FHA to manage its risk while continuing to support the nation’s housing market recovery.
The FHA will propose to take the following steps: increase the mortgage insurance premium (MIP); update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers; reduce seller concessions to three percent, from six percent; and implement a series of significant measures aimed at increasing lender enforcement. U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan previewed the changes in December of last year, noting that the FHA would announce additional details before the end of January.
“Striking the right balance between managing the FHA’s risk, continuing to provide access to underserved communities, and supporting the nation’s economic recovery is critically important,” said Commissioner Stevens. “When combined with the risk management measures announced in September of last year, these changes are among the most significant steps to address risk in the agency’s history. Additionally, by continuing to provide affordable, responsible mortgage products, FHA will support the housing market’s recovery. Importantly, FHA will remain the largest source of home purchase financing for underserved communities.”
Announced FHA Policy Changes:
- Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending
- The first step will be to raise the up-front MIP by 50 bps to 2.25% and request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that the FHA can charge.
- If this authority is granted, then the second step will be to shift some of the premium increase from the up-front MIP to the annual MIP.
- This shift will allow for the capital reserves to increase with less impact to the consumer, because the annual MIP is paid over the life of the loan instead of at the time of closing
- The initial up-front increase is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released tomorrow, January 21st, and will go into effect in the spring.
- Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers.
- New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA’s 3.5% down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10%.
- This allows the FHA to better balance its risk and continue to provide access for those borrowers who have historically performed well.
- This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February and, after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.
- Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%
- The current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value. This change will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards on seller concessions.
- This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.
- Increase enforcement on FHA lenders
- Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data - Will be available on the HUD website on February 1.
- This is an operational change to make information more user-friendly and hold lenders more accountable; it does not require new regulatory action as Neighborhood Watch data is currently publicly available.
- Enhance monitoring of lender performance and compliance with FHA guidelines and standards.
- Implement Credit Watch termination through lender underwriting ID in addition to originating ID.
- This change is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released tomorrow, January 21st, and is effective immediately.
- Implement statutory authority through regulation of section 256 of the National Housing Act to enforce indemnification provisions for lenders using delegated insuring process
- Specifications of this change will be posted in March, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in early summer.
- HUD is pursuing legislative authority to increase enforcement on FHA lenders. Specific authority includes:
- Amendment of section 256 of the National Housing Act to apply indemnification provisions to all Direct Endorsement lenders. This would require all approved mortgagees to assume liability for all of the loans that they originate and underwrite
- Legislative authority permitting HUD maximum flexibility to establish separate “areas” for purposes of review and termination under the Credit Watch initiative. This would provide authority to withdraw originating and underwriting approval for a lender nationwide on the basis of the performance of its regional branches
In addition to the changes proposed today, the FHA is continuing to review its overall response to housing market conditions, and continuing to evaluate its mortgage insurance underwriting standards and its measures to help distressed and underwater borrowers through FHA/HAMP and other FHA initiatives going forward.
Tags: concessions, credit, down, FHA, HUD, increases, low credit score, monthly MIP, payment, risk, score, seller, UFMIP
Tue 5 Jan 2010
You can’t order them online (not yet anyway). Call 800-767-7468. It’s HUD Customer Service (who knew they had one:) Maximum per order is 100. You’ll have to hang up and call if you want to order more–but will only ship 100 at a time.
Spanish Version is not yet available. They said it will take about 10 days to receive.
Tue 22 Dec 2009
Posted by karen under Compliance
No Comments
The 49 page consumer booklet has just been released on HUD’s site. You’ll need to start using it on Jan 1, 2010.
It’s the best I’ve seen–and recommend that you use as YOUR tool to explain the process to your clients. Suggest you start on Page 11, called “Your GFE Step-By-Step”. Hold a sales meeting with Real Estate Agents and review the booklet with them as they will be getting questions about it too. (Pages 4-8 apply to them)
On the same page link, you’ll also find a 29 page ”power point presentation” by HUD called ” RESPA Training - Dec 2009″ No audio but suggest you print and review.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/ramh/res/respa_hm.cfm
Tags: booklet, consumer, costs, GFE, Gov, home, HUD, loan, RESPA, Settlement, shopping
Tue 6 Oct 2009
Posted by karen under Compliance, FHA
No Comments
HUD is touting it as “aren’t we great because we are now opening up the FHA opportunity to more brokers” when in fact they are creating a situation where the responsibility is passed to the lenders (which I understand) and the lenders could easily be more stringent than HUD on which brokers they are willing to take responsibility for.
The new proposed rule says that there will be no more mini-eagles and brokers will not be approved by HUD-period. They will work through an approved lender and the lender will have to take all the responsibility for them. I believe it squeezes the broker out even more, (which again, I understand why) but they are trying to spin this as a positive thing for the brokers when it isn’t. It’s another “stop the bleeding” move by HUD!
Wed 16 Sep 2009
Posted by Tracey Rumsey under FHA
No Comments
Originally set to take effect on October 1, I think FHA finally realized that they did not allow enough time for companies to get their arms around the condo re-approvals as outlined in their recent mortgagee letter. Tell your RE Agents that if they have condo listings, which are likely to sell using FHA financing, that a case number needs to be ordered by NOVEMBER 1 because November 2 IS the date that everything starts all over again.
Nothing else has changed! If you want to learn what needs to be done to get the condo projects approved in your area, Tracey Rumsey (FHA expert and one of the speakers at Mastermind) has an online seminar, with step-by-step details on what you need to do.
here\’s the link
http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hsgsingle.cfm
www.LoanOfficerSeminars.com - which inlcudes a Mortgage Talking Points Flyer/email notice for your real estate agents called Tough TImes Ahead for Condos!
