Articles Tagged With: APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

March 28, 2016

Mortgage Rate Trends: Higher Before Easter Weekend

Last week, mortgage rates were on an upward trend, moving higher in small increments three out of the four business days before the long weekend. On Wednesday there was a glimmer of recovery, but on Thursday rates were back on the move upward, eliminating the previous range of rates for conventional mortgages and consolidating into one fixed-rate best execution number. 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgages had been in a best execution range between as low as 3.625% (the previous Friday) and 3.875%. We closed out the week with rates moving into a best execution 3.75% depending on the lender. In some cases borrowers may notice changes in closing costs rather than actual rates, but suffice it to say that it’s been a bumpy road for these rates lately. FHA mortgage | more...

January 29, 2016

FHA Announces New Insurance Rate Cuts For Multi-Family Loans

By Joe Wallace

The FHA has issued a press release announcing an insurance rate cut for FHA insured multi-family home loans. According to HUDNo.16-008, “In an effort to help preserve and increase the amount of affordable, quality rental housing across the country, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced a multifamily insurance rate reduction designed to encourage capital financing of affordable and energy-efficient apartments.” The rate reductions announced in the press release are scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2016, and according to the FHA officials site, “directly impact FHAs Multifamily Housing Programs and properties housing low- and moderate-income families and/or developments installing energy-efficient systems or building within federal energy guidelines.” The press release also adds, “U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julin Castro made the announcement today during a visit | more...

January 15, 2016

HUD Housing Report: Rising Equity, Fewer Homeowners “Underwater”

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued a housing market report on its official site–“Measuring Progress in the Housing Market” examines the state of the market near the end of the old year and noted that equity is rising, while the number of homeowners still underwater in the wake of the Great Recession is going down. “As 2015 came to a close, we saw our housing market reach key milestones on the path to recovery homeowners equity rose again, the number of homeowners in negative equity continues to decline, and purchases of new homes increased. Its clear that we must continue to support programs that will allow more American families and homeowners to recover from the Great Recession.” HUD offers this report as a regular feature of | more...

August 18, 2015

FHA Streamline Refinance Loans: Some Basics

By Joe Wallace

FHA refinance options for those who already have FHA mortgages include something know as the FHA Streamline Refinance. FHA Streamline Refinance loans allow FHA borrowers to apply for a refinance loan designed to lower monthly payments, interest rates (or both), get out of an adjustable rate mortgage, or refinance from one fixed-rate loan to another. Borrowers can also, according to FHA loan rules, refinance from one adjustable rate mortgage to another. The rules that govern FHA streamline refinance loans are found in HUD 4155.1, Chapter Six, Section B, which begins by explaining that FHA Streamline Refinances: “–are designed to lower the monthly principal and interest payments on a current FHA-insured mortgage, and — must involve no cash back to the borrower, except for minor adjustments at closing that are not | more...

July 1, 2015

FHA Refinance Loans: House Prices On The Rise

By Joe Wallace

House prices are on the rise and could even be approaching highs not seen since 2006 according to some financial reports. According to the Black Knight Financial Services Home Price Index, prices are well under 10% away from their 2006 peaks. According to the Black Knight official site, “The Black Knight HPI combines the companys extensive property and loan-level databases to produce a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates every month for each of more than 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes. The Black Knight HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for REO and short sales.” According to the report, Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, and New York all hit new house price peaks in April 2015, and Washington leads the U.S. | more...

June 17, 2015

HUD Announces More Housing Counseling Grants

By Joe Wallace

We write a great deal about the importance of housing counseling–especially for first time FHA loan applicants who might need some additional help with questions about the home buying process in general, getting credit ready for an FHA loan application, and what it takes to apply for a home loan after a bankruptcy or foreclosure. Yesterday HUD announced a new round of grants for housing counseling agencies that provide such services to FHA borrowers and other home loan applicants. HUDNo.15-074 announced nearly six million dollars in housing counseling grants, including “nearly $1.5 million to new housing counseling grantees and $4.5 million to supplement the funding awarded in April to existing grantees” according to the HUD press release. You can examine a comprehensive summary of each grant, organized by state as | more...

June 1, 2015

FHA Loan Rule Changes and The New Single Family FHA Policy Handbook

By Joe Wallace

The FHA announced important changes to its single family home loan program for 2015–a new Single Family FHA Policy Handbook that would essentially be the go-to guide for all rules and regulations for a typical FHA home loan. The new handbook was supposed to go into effect in mid-June and take precedence over the old collection of policies. But the FHA and HUD have extended the deadline for this new handbook to go into effect and now existing guidance will be valid through September 14, 2015. According to the FHA official site, “As of May, 18, 2015 users can access the online SF Handbook for free from the link provided on HUDs Client Information Policy Systems (HUDCLIPS) web page. The online SF Handbook makes it easier for mortgagees and other | more...

April 28, 2015

FHA Mortgage Rate Trends: Higher Ahead Of Fed Announcement

By Joe Wallace

Mortgage loan rates shot up to highs we haven’t seen in around a month–Tuesday rates pushed higher ahead of two important economic data releases on Wednesday that have potential to push mortgage loan rates in one direction or the other depending on investor reaction to the contents of those releases. Wednesday morning sees the release of numbers from the first quarter Gross Domestic Product report (in the morning) and an announcement from the Fed (in the afternoon). The Fed event will be watched carefully as markets will react to any news that indicates whether or not the Fed intends to raise interest rates. That would have an effect, depending on how investors respond to the information, of pressuring rates higher or giving them a chance to recover from today’s move | more...

April 28, 2015

FHA Loan Program Changes To Help Prevent Foreclosure

By Joe Wallace

On Friday, April 24 2015, the FHA and HUD issued a press release detailing “significant changes” to the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program or DASP. According to HUDNo 15-048, “In an effort to better serve homeowners looking to avoid foreclosure, loan servicers will now be required to delay foreclosure for a year and to evaluate all borrowers for the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) or a similar loss mitigation program.” “HUD is making additional improvements to the Neighborhood Stabilization Outcome (NSO) sales portion of DASP which are aimed at increasing non-profit participation. Updates include giving non-profits a first look at vacant properties, allowing purchasers to re-sell notes to non-profits, and offering a non-profit only pool.” That is a major alteration from the old standard, which permitted lenders to foreclose on a | more...

When Is An FHA Loan Better Than A Conventional Loan?

April 20, 2015

FHA Home Loan Rules On Fair Housing

By Joe Wallace

April is Fair Housing Month, and the FHA/HUD official site has a variety of resources for borrowers who want to know more about Fair Housing Act laws, and how such laws pertain to both borrowers and lenders. The FHA and HUD are quite serious about equal access to housing, but what do FHA home loan rules say about Fair Housing rules and how are participating FHA lenders expected to comply with those rules? HUD 4155.2 Chapter One, Section B has some important guidelines: “HUD is responsible for enforcing the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act, contained in 42 U.S.C. 3605, prohibits discrimination in residential real estate-related transactions, such as • making or purchasing loans or providing other financial assistance, and • the terms and conditions for making available loans | more...