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Articles Published in: May 2019

FHA Loan Rules

June Is National Home Ownership Month

June is National Homeownership Month. The Department of Housing and Urban Development announce this on their official site as “a time to recognize the importance of homeownership to the U.S. economy and the benefits owning a home have on building household wealth for families”. National Housing Month is a time the agency uses to raise awareness of home ownership issues much in the same way that April is used (as Fair Housing Month) to raise awareness of federal law that protects house hunters and renters from discrimination in housing. This year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced millions of dollars in funding in support of “sustainable homeownership”; the agency announced $43 million in grants intended for housing counseling organizations nationwide. “HUD-approved housing counselors can make all the | more...

 
FHA/HUD

HUD Announces $1.2 Million To Fight Housing Discrimination

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced $1.2 in funding toward the fight against housing discrimination. The HUD official site made the announcement on May 30, 2019. The federal funding falls under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to “support the efforts of 11 organizations to educate the public and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.” April, which is Fair Housing Month, saw the agency award $15 million to similar types of organizations nationwide “to conduct a range of fair housing enforcement, capacity building and education and outreach” all designed to end discrimination at all stages of the housing process. The Secretary of HUD was quoted in a press release stating,”HUD’s efforts to fight housing discrimination are force multiplied by local fair | more...

 

FHA Loan Rules: Adding Repairs To The Sale Price Of The Home

FHA loan rules for new purchase home loans include regulations on how the cost of repairs can be added to the sale price of the home to be purchased with an FHA mortgage. Th rules for this are found in HUD 4155.1, Chapter 2 Section Five, which states: “Repairs and improvements may be added to the sales price before calculating the mortgage amount when the • repairs and improvements are required by the appraiser as essential for property eligibility, and paid by the borrower, and • sales contract or addendum identifies the borrower as responsible for payment, and completion of the repairs.” FHA loan rules in this section state that, “Only repairs and improvements required by the appraiser may be included.” How does this all work? Chapter Five has a | more...

 
FHA Loan

FHA Appraisal Rules You Need To Know

Are you a first-time home buyer? Are you looking into your FHA home loan options and not sure what the appraisal process is all about? The FHA appraisal is a tool for the lender to determine the home’s fair market value and a way to make sure a property meets MINIMUM standards. No matter what you might hear (and some mistakenly call the appraisal an “inspection”) the appraisal will not tell you the true condition of the home. Even the FHA and HUD themselves warn borrowers to pay for the optional home inspection (which is technically not a requirement, but then again, neither is test-driving your car before you buy it). And what should borrowers know about the FHA appraisal process? The appraisal’s most important feature for some borrowers is | more...

 
FHA refinance loans: Questions To Ask

FHA Refinance Loans: Questions To Ask

Are you ready for a refinance loan? Maybe you seek a lower interest rate, or maybe you want to get cash back on the transaction? Whatever your motivation for applying for an FHA refinance loan, there are some important questions to ask yourself-the answers will help determine your readiness for the new loan. Have I Checked My credit Score and History Lately? All consumers are entitled to a free credit report, which you should review long before attempting a mortgage refinance. If you find any evidence of identity theft, outdated or erroneous information, you will need time to contest that problem. Contesting your credit report could involve (in the case of identity theft and related issues) filing police reports, working with investigators, etc. Do not waste your time paying for | more...

 
FHA loans

Happy Memorial Day 2019!

Happy Memorial Day! We pause today from our usual posts about FHA home loans, refinance loans, FHA One-Time Close construction loans and related topics to recognize the sacrifices made by our women and men in uniform. Thank you to all who have served-from those who have gone before to those who are about to enter their first year in uniform in service to our country. We return with our regularly scheduled posts on Tuesday. Thank you for reading, and have a safe and happy Memorial Day 2019.

 
FHA/HUD

HUD Announces Minneapolis Housing Discrimination Case Settlement

Sexual harassment that occurs in the context of seeking or keeping housing is a violation of federal law. Some house hunters and renters don’t realize this. They also may miss the fact that renters, house hunters, and home owners also have recourse when they are sexually harassed in the context of finding or keeping a rental property or owning a home. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a Fair Housing case brought against David Sheets, a Minneapolis property owner. According to the HUD official site, the agency has approved an agreement “between a Minneapolis property owner and a female tenant who alleged the landlord solicited sex from her in exchange for a reduction in her rent”. The Fair Housing Act makes sexual harassment associated | more...

 

Home Values Dropping: FHA Loan Rules You Should Know

Real estate values could be entering a new phase if some real estate blogs are to be believed; a Zillow.com report notes that median home values declined a bit in the spring of 2019. A different online real estate publication notes, “Though values didn’t drop year-over-year, their growth rate to (sic) lag behind 2018’s number.” That information does not necessarily help or hurt a house hunter looking for an FHA mortgage and a home to buy at the moment, but there are some important FHA loan rules to remember that WILL help you in cases where property values or house prices are in a state of decline. Where are values going lower according to Zillow? How about San Francisco? Pittsburgh? Others named include Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Diego. You | more...

 
FHA home loans

What Is An FHA REO Home?

The FHA Real Estate Owned program or FHA REO program has gotten some media attention lately, which likely has more people wondering what exactly this program is. The HUD REO program, sometimes known as HUD Homes, is described on the FHA / HUD official site as “…a 1-to-4 unit residential property acquired by HUD as a result of a foreclosure action on an FHA-insured mortgage. HUD becomes the property owner and offers it for sale to recover the loss on the foreclosure claim”. The HUD Home Store is the official HUD site used to list these HUD REO homes for sale to the public, real estate brokers, state and local governments and nonprofit organizations. What does the general public need to know about buying HUD REO homes? According to HUD, | more...

 
FHA mortgage

Questions A First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask The Seller

First-time home buyers and those who have purchased a home before but haven’t had to explore housing markets in a while should make a list of questions to ask the seller of a home placed on the real estate market. Sometimes it’s not the answer to the questions as much as the way the seller answers those questions-your ability to ask important questions in those cases is important, but so is paying attention to how the questions get answered. For example, the question, “Has the roof ever been replaced or repaired?” may get you a direct answer; “No, nothing has ever gone wrong with the roof”. But if the seller hesitates or offers a less-than-forthcoming answer, such as, “I don’t remember anything going wrong with the roof” or “No, the | more...