Articles in Category: Special FHA Programs

June 19, 2020

FHA And HUD Announce Extended Foreclosure Relief

Are you a homeowner with an FHA loan worried about your mortgage during the coronavirus pandemic? If so, you aren’t alone. Coronavirus outbreak containment policies–lockdowns, quarantines, and other necessary measures, have brought with them economic hardship from many Americans; loss of income creates and questions about future earnings can result in late and missed mortgage payments, increasing the risk of foreclosure. But during the pandemic, federal relief measures were drafted to help–and the FHA/HUD is no exception, requiring participating lenders to delay initiating or continuing foreclosures during the crisis. Now, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Administration have issued an extension (actually the second extension since the crisis began) of the foreclosure moratorium announced in March. The Old Deadline Wasn’t Sufficient The HUD official site | more...

Build on your own lot. Construction loan basics

June 15, 2020

First-Time Home Buyers: Build Your New Home With A One-Time Close Construction Loan

By Bruce Reichstein

Buying a home can be challenging for some first-time borrowers. Many newcomers to the mortgage market don’t know all their options open and in that situation it is easy to make choices that are less than fully-informed. One-Time Close construction loans are open to any financially qualified applicant and that includes FHA borrowers who have never purchased a home before but have good FICO scores and repayment history that has no late or missed payments in the last 12 months or better. One-Time Close loans are offered as FHA, VA, and even USDA mortgages. The FHA version is NOT need-based and features no income caps, unlike the USDA version. VA construction loans are intended only for qualifying military members, veterans, and certain surviving spouses of military members. For the average | more...

May 15, 2020

FHA Extends Coronavirus Policies

By Joe Wallace

The Federal Housing Administration has issued a press release announcing an extension to coronavirus-related mortgage relief for American borrowers with FHA home loans. One major feature of that extension? More time on the FHA eviction and foreclosure moratorium issued on FHA mortgages. That moratorium now lasts until June 30, 2020. This applies to homeowners with “FHA-insured Title II Single Family forward and Home Equity Conversion (reverse) mortgages” according to the HUD official site. Until these measures expire, FHA lenders are directed to: Halt all new foreclosure actions; Suspend all foreclosure actions currently in process, excluding legally vacant or abandoned properties; Cease all evictions from FHA-insured Single Family properties; This excludes actions “to evict occupants of legally vacant or abandoned properties”. Also extended? The length of time for FHA’s temporary policies | more...

Construction Loans For First-Time Home Buyers

May 12, 2020

Building A Home As A New Borrower

By Bruce Reichstein

At press time, many portions of the United States are considering some kind of return to business as usual in the wake of lockdowns and coronavirus containment measures. For better or worse, some portions of the country are opening more than others and this will likely include real estate markets and house hunting as progress is made. And that means some first-time home buyers will be exploring their options soon. Did you know that even as a first time borrower, you may be eligible for a One-Time Close construction loan that allows the borrower to build a home on their own lot rather than buying someone else’s property? One-Time close loans are available for VA borrowers, FHA loan applicants, even USDA borrowers. These loans do require some additional legwork and | more...

May 6, 2020

Home Loan Forbearance Options

By Bruce Reichstein

Are you one of the many Americans in need of mortgage loan forbearance during COVID-19? There are many different types of mortgages; FHA, VA, USDA, conventional…the options available to you may vary depending on the type of mortgage you have, whether you are current on your home loan payments at the time you request the help, and other factors. If you need to apply for mortgage forbearance, it is important to know the range of choices open to you not just for the forbearance period itself, but also for repaying the money you don’t pay now if you are approved. Some loan forbearance options may allow you to choose to stop making payments for up to a full year and choose a method to repay the year’s worth of delayed | more...

May 4, 2020

Sexual Harassment As A Violation Of The Fair Housing Act

By Bruce Reichstein

The month of April is Fair Housing Month in America, and while at the time of this writing that month has just ended there are efforts made around the clock to raise awareness of Fair Housing laws. HUD has issued a press release about one of those ongoing efforts; a joint-agency fight to stop sexual harassment in the housing process. The U.S. Attorney General and the HUD Secretary have partnered to remind landlords and renters that sexual harassment at any stage of the housing process is illegal and a violation of federal Fair Housing Act regulations. “The Fair Housing Act embodies the spirit of this great Nation where everyone is entitled to equal opportunity and respect,” said the HUD Secretary, who was quoted in the press release. He adds, “No | more...

May 1, 2020

FHA Construction Loan Facts: What You Need To Know

By Joe Wallace

There are many options available when you are searching for a house to buy. The first set of choices often involves the type of home loan you want to apply for–believe it or not there is no one-size-fits-all mortgage. If you want to purchase a condo with an FHA mortgage, for example, there is a specific loan and procedures for that. But what if you want to have a house built for you from the ground up? This is also an option, even for first-time home buyers. You can apply for a conventional one-time close construction loan, but you’ll be applying for conventional loan interest rates and terms; an FHA One-Time Close construction loan has a 3.5% down payment requirement, which is lower than you may be offered on a | more...

FHA One Time Close Construction Loan Option

April 30, 2020

The FHA One-Time Close Mortgage Option

By Bruce Reichstein

Borrowers looking at their FHA home loan options don’t have to feel limited to purchasing an existing construction property; there is a way to apply for an FHA mortgage that lets you have a home built to suit from the ground up. These FHA new construction home loans are referred to as Construction-To-Permanent mortgages or, more recently, FHA One-Time Close construction loans. One-Time Close construction loans are good for borrowers who want a home that is just right, and are not in a hurry to get into their new home. The trade-off for having just the right property built for you is the time it will take from planning to move-in. The process will take more time, but it is definitely worth it to those who choose this type of | more...

April 16, 2020

HUD Issues More Guidance For COVID-19 Mortgage Relief

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued guidance clarifying certain aspects of the coronavirus mortgage relief options; there are instructions for multi-family loans as well as for single-family FHA mortgages. Why are the multi-family rules good for the single-family borrower to understand? Borrowers with multi-family FHA loans who need of COVID-19 mortgage relief have similar requirements to those for single-family borrowers. If you know the approach your lender takes for FHA loans, you can make more fully informed choices about your loan including when to apply for economic relief and what options to choose. Borrowers have the option to request six months of loan forbearance or as much as a full year, depending on circumstances. Should you take the full year? Cut off the relief as soon as | more...

April 13, 2020

Are You In Trouble On Your FHA Mortgage Loan?

By Joe Wallace

Are you having trouble making your FHA home loan payments? Is the coronavirus emergency made it financially difficult to stay current on your mortgage loan? There have been a variety of relief measures proposed and announced, but many of them are more general types of assistance. The FHA and HUD published an announcement discussing COVID-19 related mortgage relief for FHA borrowers affected by the coronavirus outbreak. This relief is specifically for those with mortgage loans guaranteed by the FHA including mortgages, reverse mortgages, etc. These measures were a welcome development for many FHA mortgage borrowers, but it is crucial for home owners to understand that until you contact your loan servicer, you cannot assume it’s safe to delay payments. You MUST make arrangements with your lender to claim the mortgage | more...