Articles Published in: 2021

February 18, 2021

HUD Further Extends COVID-19 Foreclosure Relief

The FHA and HUD have announced new modifications to coronavirus relief options for FHA borrowers in need of foreclosure avoidance help during the pandemic. Effective immediately, HUD has implemented a variety of modifications: Extended foreclosure and eviction moratoriums now expire June 30, 2021; Deadline for “first legal action” and “Reasonable Diligence Time Frame” is extended to 180 days; COVID-19 Forbearance start dates are now extended to June 30, 2021; HECM extension period is extended to June 30, 2021; HUD now offers up to two additional three-month COVID-19 Forbearance periods or HECM extension periods “for certain Borrowers”; HUD now allows additional Borrowers, “regardless of delinquency status or participation on a COVID-19 Forbearance” to apply for FHA’s COVID-19 Loss Mitigation Options; HUD has removed the restriction on “Borrowers receiving more than one | more...

Buy or Build a House On Your Own Lot in 2020

February 17, 2021

FHA One-Time Close Construction Loan Advice: Hiring A Builder

By Bruce Reichstein

If you want to build a dream home on your own lot instead of buying somebody else’s house, the One-Time Close construction mortgage is an option you should explore. These loans require you to hire a builder (more on that below) and this is a part of the process that can be a bit intimidating for some borrowers until they learn there are some basic steps to follow that will make your hiring process a lot more hassle-free. Why Hire A Builder? Why go thru the trouble to find a qualified and reputable contractor to do the construction work for you? Why doesn’t the borrower act as their own builder or hire friends and family to pitch in? The answer is simple. For a start, most borrowers likely don’t have | more...

February 16, 2021

Refinancing Your Mortgage With An FHA Loan

By Joe Wallace

If you have been looking at home loan interest rates in 2021 and considering your refinance loan options, it’s a good idea to take some steps that will help you get closer to refi loan approval. Borrowers who need or want to refinance should shop around for their new loan, and get all the information possible about how much their refinance loan will cost over the loan run and up front. Addressing Credit Issues Before applying for ANY loan, refinance or not, review your credit report in detail. You may have credit problems associated with the pandemic, there may be COVID-19-related factors in your credit that can be accounted for as a one-time problem created due to circumstance. And the Federal Trade Commission advises borrowers that such unique issues will | more...

February 15, 2021

Happy Presidents Day

By Joe Wallace

Happy Presidents’ Day 2021! Today banks and markets are closed, and we pause from our usual schedule of writing posts and giving information about FHA home loans to observe the holiday. We return with our regular content schedule tomorrow. Thank you for reading!

One Time Close Mortgage Loans: The Base Home Sales Price

February 12, 2021

One-Time Close Mortgages Compared To Other Home Loans

By Bruce Reichstein

How do One-Time Close Loans differ from other mortgage types? There are FHA One-Time Close loans, VA construction loans, and USDA versions. How do the construction loans differ from buying someone else’s home? The first way they differ is time–it takes more time to get the key and move in when you build a home from the ground up than it does to buy existing property. But the time you spend building is worth the investment–you get to approve the design of the home you are moving into, and that’s a big deal for some house hunters. Build Or Buy? Deciding isn’t hard for some people–they want the ability to customize. There are FHA loan options for doing so that don’t require you to commit to building from scratch–some choose | more...

February 11, 2021

HUD Announces Fair Housing Act Protection Improvements

By Joe Wallace

There is good news from the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the agency has announced it plans to “administer and enforce the Fair Housing Act” with an eye toward eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In the earliest weeks of the Biden administration, the HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) issued a memorandum indicating that HUD will interpret the Fair Housing Act “to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and directing HUD offices and recipients of HUD funds to enforce the Act accordingly.” This comes on the heels of the President’s executive order 13988, “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation” requiring executive branch agencies to examine further steps that could be | more...

February 10, 2021

HUD Brings Fair Housing Charges In Missouri

By Bruce Reichstein

Have you ever been the victim of housing discrimination? In spite of the federal laws designed to stop it, cases still occur in America. And sometimes only the victim of the discrimination has the power to stop to perpetrator from future abuses. If you don’t report the illegal activity, it can happen to someone else. Housing discrimination creates terrible conditions for anyone who wants to buy a new home. And this discrimination’s negative effects don’t stay neatly contained to the sector where the abuses occur, either. Housing discrimination in the rental sector can negatively affect a house hunter’s ability to find housing at a reasonable price. It is sometimes necessary to rent a home while looking for a home to purchase. The damage housing discrimination does at the rental stage | more...

February 9, 2021

FHA Home Loan Approval And Your Finances

By Joe Wallace

Do you need to buy a home with an FHA mortgage? Or refinance your existing loan? There are some financial issues to be mindful of going into a new loan application–don’t let a lack of information derail your mortgage loan process. Mortgages and refinance loans don’t have one-size-fits-all solutions; in the same way you have many housing choices there are also many different kinds of mortgage loan circumstances. When your loan application comes in, the lender has to make sure the loan will be a good credit risk. To be approved, your application requires your tax returns, bank statements, and other financial data. The lender reviews these ahead of loan approval. And some issues can create more problems for the lender than others at first. For example, what happens if | more...

February 8, 2021

FHA Refinance Loan Options: Why You Should Consider A Streamline Refinance

By Joe Wallace

Do you need to consider refinancing your current FHA home loan? Interest rates are still very low in the earliest weeks of 2021 and while there is no guarantee mortgage rates will remain quite this low for the duration of the year, now is a great time to consider your options for a lower mortgage payment via an FHA Streamline Refinance loan. Interest rates in the opening weeks of 2021 are still at the time of this writing below the three percent line for 30-year fixed rate government-backed mortgages such as FHA loans. A mortgage industry company, Black Knight, has issued a report that noting that at the end of January 2021 there were some 45 thousand people exiting home loan forbearance programs and another nearly 50 thousand loan forbearance | more...

FHA Loan Waiting Times After Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

February 5, 2021

Can I Get An FHA Mortgage After Bankruptcy?

By Bruce Reichstein

People can and do apply for home loans, including FHA mortgages, following a bankruptcy filing. What does it take to be approved for an FHA home loan after filing bankruptcy? The key to loan approval in these cases? Time. You can’t simply apply for bankruptcy and six months later try to get a new home loan. FHA loan rules require a minimum time known as a “seasoning period” to be waited out. This seasoning period must pass before you are permitted to apply for a new FHA home loan. How does the seasoning period work? This part is confusing for some. We’ll review the specifics of FHA loan rules for each type of bankruptcy (Chapter 7 and Chapter 13) individually as there are unique rules for each. One consistent feature | more...