March 24, 2016
When you buy a home with an FHA mortgage, one of the appraisal requirements that must be met on certain older homes is that there must be an awareness of potential lead paint hazards in the property. A home that was built prior to 1978 may contain lead paint, and HUD 4000.1 page 115 states clearly:
“If the Property was built before 1978, the seller must disclose any information known about lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards before selling the house, in accordance with the HUD-EPA Lead Disclosure Rule (24 CFR 35, subpart A, and the identical 40 CFR 745, subpart F). For such Properties, the Mortgagee must ensure that:
–the Borrower has been provided the EPA-approved information pamphlet on identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards (Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home);
–the Borrower was given a 10-Day period before becoming obligated to purchase the home to conduct a lead-based paint inspection or risk assessment to determine the presence of lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards, or waived the opportunity;”
Now, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering a multi-million dollar grant program to state and local agencies to help clean up lead paint hazards in the home.
According to a recent press release issued on the FHA/HUD official site, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that it is making more than $100 million in grants available to help eliminate dangerous lead-based paint hazards from the homes of lower income families. These grants are intended to protect young children from lead poisoning and provide an opportunity for states and local communities to establish programs to control health and safety hazards by assessing and remediating lead-based paint and other housing related health hazards”.
HUD Secretary Julian Castro says it is important to insure the quality and safety of housing by managing the hazards of lead-based paint. “Since 1973, HUD has been leading the charge in lead hazard identification and abatement throughout the housing industry” Castro says in the press release. “We know that there’s no more important mission than to protect our children and give them the greatest opportunity in their lives. These important grants will help keep thousands of children safe and healthy, free of debilitating lead poisoning.”
The HUD grants are made to state and local governments via HUD’s Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Program totaling $43 million, and its Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration Program. According to the press release, “In these grant programs, HUD is providing nearly $13 million in healthy homes supplemental funds to promote identify and remediate additional housing related health hazards in homes with lead based paint hazards”.
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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