June 2, 2016
In many of our blog posts, we encourage borrowers to contact the FHA/HUD directly to seek a referral to a local, HUD-approved housing counselor. Pre-purchase counseling can be a very important part of the home loan application process, especially for borrowers who are new to the mortgage loan process.
In some cases, as with FHA reverse mortgages/HECM loans, counseling is required as a condition of loan approval.
Borrowers can contact the FHA/HUD directly to request housing counseling by calling 1-800 CALL FHA. And now, thanks to action by HUD in compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, a new committee is looking into ways to expand and improve housing counseling.
According to a press release at the HUD official site, on Wednesday June 1, 2016, “this advisory panel will help HUD’s Office of Housing Counseling improve upon all the efforts to provide consumers with the knowledge they need to make informed and lasting housing decisions.”
According to the press release, The Housing Counseling Federal Advisory Committee has a role that includes finding or creating “new opportunities to expand access to HUD housing counseling programs, develop new innovative strategies to support community-based counseling agencies, and identify methods to leverage our resources to amplify the impact of federally funded housing counseling.”
This panel is also charged with developing new ways to “evaluate the health and capacity of the housing counseling industry, specifically in the context of disaster recovery and identify ways to improve the use of technology in housing counseling.”
Making sure borrowers are fully informed as to their choices, rights, and obligations in the home loan process is very important. The press release states, “By teaching consumers basic principles of housing and money management, HUD’s network of approximately 2,000 HUD-approved housing counseling agencies help families to improve their financial situation, address their current housing needs, and pursue their housing and financial goals over time.”
The press release adds that the role of a housing counselor in the home loan process includes raising awareness of Fair Housing law, foreclosure prevention and much more.
“Housing counselors increase awareness of both rights and responsibilities of homeownership and rental tenancy, addressing fundamental concepts such as anti-discrimination laws, the types of ownership and tenancy, budgeting, affordability calculations, maintenance and upkeep responsibilities, eviction and homelessness prevention, and where to get help when future housing challenges arise. Housing counselors provide support to households facing unemployment, finding and maintaining housing after returning from military deployment, or moving their families because their current housing situation is unsustainable.”
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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