Articles Published in: July 2015

July 1, 2015

FHA Loan Reader Questions: “Is This True?”

One very common type of FHA loan question we get in the comments section here involves situations where the applicant was told by a lender or another party that “X, Y, or Z is required to get FHA loan approval”. The question we get from readers in these cases is simply, “Is this true?” Answering such questions is tricky because the answer depends on whether the lender is speaking about the policies of a particular financial institution or the policies of the FHA loan program itself. Borrowers should remember that FHA loan rules spell out a set of requirements, minimum standards, and policies for the FHA loan program in general, but those things are not the only rules that will govern an FHA home loan or refinance loan transaction. Did | more...

July 1, 2015

FHA Refinance Loans: House Prices On The Rise

By Joe Wallace

House prices are on the rise and could even be approaching highs not seen since 2006 according to some financial reports. According to the Black Knight Financial Services Home Price Index, prices are well under 10% away from their 2006 peaks. According to the Black Knight official site, “The Black Knight HPI combines the companys extensive property and loan-level databases to produce a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates every month for each of more than 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes. The Black Knight HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for REO and short sales.” According to the report, Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, and New York all hit new house price peaks in April 2015, and Washington leads the U.S. | more...