Articles Published in: 2015

September 15, 2015

Mortgage Rate Trends: Holding Pattern Until The Fed Announcement?

Monday kicked off a wait-and-see week with rates holding steady ahead of Thursday’s Federal Open Market Committee’s announcement with regard to a possible hike in interest rates. In years past, this type of FOMC announcement has had great power to move rates, and there is “no consensus among economists” according to a recent Business Insider article as to whether or not the rate hike will be announced this week. So markets are playing the waiting game, and that means, at least on Monday, that mortgage loan rates were in what some might categorize as “defensive mode”. Rates don’t seem to be budging, and that means that best-execution, we see reports of 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgage loan interest rates hovering at or near 4.0%. FHA mortgage loan rates are still | more...

What if my home was damaged in a natural disaster?

September 15, 2015

FHA 203(k) Rehab Loans

By Joe Wallace

Not all borrowers want to get an FHA home loan for a home that is perfect and fully ready to occupy. Some are interested in fixer-upper properties, and we commonly receive reader questions in our comments section about them. Here’s a good example of a recent query: “… If I was interested in purchasing a property below market value and having a contractor repair the existing home on the property is there a loan that could potentially work in this situation?” The FHA/HUD official site has a page of information about the FHA 203(k) rehab loan that addresses this issue directly. According to the FHA official site: “Section 203(k) fills a unique and important need for homebuyers. When buying a house that needs repair or modernization, homebuyers usually have to | more...

September 14, 2015

FHA Home Loans and Legal Questions

By Joe Wallace

From time to time we get questions in the comments section about legal issues associated with an FHA home loan transaction. One of the most recent involved a situation where a reader tells us: “…the underwriter denied loan due to not enough in account for closing. The sellers realtor contacted our loan officer and asked if we had enough money to pay the closing costs our loan officer told her no, at that point the sellers realtor stated they did not know if they wanted to deal with us. Is that legal for our loan officer to give the sellers realtor this information…” It cannot be stressed enough that in situations where there is a legal question, a lawyer with experience in real estate law should be consulted. We cannot | more...

September 14, 2015

HUD 4000.1 Becomes Effective Today

By Joe Wallace

Today, Monday September 14, 2015, the new FHA Single Family Home Loan Policy Handbook takes effect. It’s called HUD 4000.1 and is now the reference for all FHA single family home loans. Up to now, certain parts of the handbook have been in effect, while other portions were printed but not effective until today’s launch date. A variety of policies have been superseded by the new guidebook, while others have been reproduced and ported over. The new Single Family Policy Handbook is broken down into five basic sections, and there is an FHA/HUD FAQ preview page that answers the most common questions about the new guide, certain changes, and restatements of existing policy. You can find that FAQ page at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=SFH_FAQ_Preview.pdf. It previews a variety of questions and their answers. | more...

September 12, 2015

Mortgage Loan Interest Rate Trends

By Joe Wallace

Mortgage loan interest rates have been back and forth this week, but markets that directly affect the rates seem to be getting more “defensive” as we get closer to next Wednesday. That is when the Fed will make some kind of an announcement about interest rates and whether they will get hiked sooner instead of later. 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgage loans are holding, best execution, at or near 4.0%. FHA mortgage loan interest rates are also holding steady, best execution, at 3.75% though your mileage may vary depending on the lender. As always, “best execution” refers to ideal circumstances with a borrower that has outstanding FICO scores and loan repayment history among other things. Your experience may vary. These rates are not available to all borrowers or from all | more...

Can I buy a manufactured home with an FHA loan?

September 11, 2015

Power Of Attorney Rules Under HUD 4000.1

By Joe Wallace

We’ve written a lot in recent days about the changes coming to FHA single family loan rules. Come September 14, 2015, a new HUD policy handbook on FHA single-family home loans goes into effect, incorporating updates, revisions and re-statements of existing policy. Under HUD 4000.1, there are a set of rules about the use of power of attorney in order to advance an FHA home loan. In our last blog post we discussed using electronic signatures and some basic power of attorney information. FHA loans can be made using a power of attorney under specific circumstances and according to certain procedures. What are those procedures? According to the rules in HUD 4000.1 (again, which become the official policy as of September 14 2015 unless otherwise stated in the new handbook) | more...

September 11, 2015

Signature Requirements For FHA Home Loans Under HUD 4000.1

By Joe Wallace

On September 14, 2015, the new HUD policy handbook on FHA single-family home loans goes into effect. There are plenty of changes, revisions and other statements of policy. Borrowers should know that certain changes have already gone into effect as of March, others won’t be effective until September 14. Once the handbook is launched officially, lenders will use it to refer to when in need of FHA loan policy or clarification of that policy. Consider one important issue for certain FHA loan applicants including military members and incapacitated borrowers–the use electronic signatures and/or of a Power Of Attorney in order to advance the FHA loan application. In HUD 4000.1, Chapter Two, Section A has a section titled, “Policy on Use of Electronic Signatures” which includes the following definition: “An Electronic | more...

September 10, 2015

Need Help Preparing For An FHA Mortgage Loan? HUD Resources By State

By Joe Wallace

We give out a lot of advice about the planning stages of your FHA home loan. Did you know it’s best to begin planning at least a year ahead of time for a new home loan? Doing so gives you time to save up or continue to save for a down payment, related fees and expenses, pull your credit reports and other tasks that should happen long before you are ready to fill out your application. One area we strongly encourage buyers to examine is housing counseling. Pre-purchase housing counseling can help new FHA loan applicants navigate the entire process more confidently and better prepared. But where can a potential FHA borrower turn to get this housing counseling? The best thing to do is to contact the FHA directly for | more...

September 10, 2015

New FHA Single Family Loan Policy Handbook HUD 4000.1: Superseded Policies

By Joe Wallace

At the time of this writing there are five days until the launch of the new FHA Single Family Home Loan policy book, HUD 4000.1. We have written about certain policies and procedures that will take effect on September 14, 2015, the official launch date for HUD 4000.1. But there are some changes to FHA loan rules that coincide with the launch of the new handbook that are important to know–some FHA mortgagee letters have been superseded in their entirety. The FHA/HUD official site has a comprehensive list of those mortgagee letters, which includes the following chart: As you can see, there is a range of mortgagee letters that will be replaced, from 1994 all the way up to the year 2014. Not ALL mortgagee letters in that year/date range | more...

September 9, 2015

Energy Efficient Mortgages And Updated FHA/HUD Rules

By Joe Wallace

In a recent blog post we discussed the pending release of HUD 4000.1, which is the new FHA single family home loan policy handbook. Among the changes and updates to take effect on September 14, 2015 when the handbook is launched, there are some guidelines about FHA Energy Efficient Mortgages (EEM) and the financing of non-EEM energy efficient upgrades/improvements. One area we didn’t cover in our last blog post about the EEM issue is the dollar amount limit for these upgrades. How much does the FHA allow the borrower to finance for such improvements? According to the FHA official site, which has a FAQ section on the most common questions about new rules and updates that will be part of HUD 4000.1, we learn the following about the dollar amount | more...