Articles Tagged With: FHA Loan Rules

November 5, 2021

Who Can Apply For An FHA Mortgage?

Who can apply for an FHA mortgage? Anyone can apply. Not all are accepted, obviously but there are few restrictions on who can be considered for an FHA mortgage. One of the main restrictions? Applicants with FICO scores below 500–FICO scores below that can never qualify for an FHA mortgage. Another restriction–you must be in the country legally. You do NOT have to be a citizen of the United States to qualify for an FHA mortgage loan, but you do have to provide documentation that shows your status as a resident, non-resident alien (the official term at press time) refugee, or asylum seeker. Your ability to qualify for the FHA home loan program depends on being able to show documentation of your status as a legal resident, etc. Another restriction | more...

November 4, 2021

HUD Announces New Funding To Fight Housing Discrimination

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a round of funding intended to combat housing discrimination related to COVID-19. Fair Housing Act violations are bad enough when things are “normal”, let alone during a global pandemic. A press release at the HUD official site notes the agency is funding more than 50 Fair Housing initiatives to the tune of approximately $13 million. That money comes from the pool set aside for the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The press release states the money funds a “range of fair housing enforcement and education and outreach activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic” including work to fight discrimination in communities determined to be “underserved” by such efforts. “Discriminatory policies have no place in a nation struggling to deal with the lingering effects | more...

November 3, 2021

FHA Loans: For Buying Your First Home

By Bruce Reichstein

Are you looking for your first home? The FHA home loan program offers mortgages with 3.5% down payments if you qualify with FICO scores, income, and responsible credit use. What do you need to know about what it takes to get approved for an FHA mortgage as a first-time buyer? A lot may depend on variables in your life such as how long you have been in the job market, what your current debt ratio looks like, and whether the employment you have now is stable and likely to continue into the first years of the new loan. Why do we say this? Because FHA mortgages require a minimum income history but not a minimum income. FHA loan approval depends on your credit history, your FICO scores, AND your employment. | more...

October 18, 2021

HUD Announces Settlement In Alabama Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced an agreement with the owners of the HUD-supported Hollyhand Companies, Inc., and The Village at Meadowview in Fairhope, Alabama. This announcement settles a Fair Housing discrimination case involving a policy barring visitors of a certain age due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The details of this Fair Housing Act complaint involve a resident filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development alleging the tenant could no longer care for her grandchildren in the home because doing so allegedly violated the “no visitors under 12” policy. The HUD official site states that as a result of the resident’s complaint, the agency “…engaged in a compliance review to assess whether the owners had adopted an impermissible age distinction in their | more...

October 14, 2021

Applying For An FHA Mortgage: Timing Counts

By Joe Wallace

If you are shopping for a new home, you want to be as informed as possible about your home loan options, rights, and responsibilities. Some begin their loan application process without being fully prepared, and this can wind up slowing down or even stopping a home loan application in its’ tracks. But how? One big mistake you should avoid making before applying for an FHA mortgage? Applying too soon. If you have financial trouble in your credit report from past issues, the date of your last late or missed payment is an important one–lenders generally want to see at least 12 months of on-time payments on your financial obligations. If you don’t have that record, it’s a good idea to wait to apply for a home loan until you do. | more...

October 12, 2021

Planning Your FHA Home Loan

By Joe Wallace

FHA home loans appeal to some differently than others–some buyers like the low 3.5% down payment (the lowest possible for an FHA mortgage for those who qualify) and for other buyers, the more flexible qualifications for loan approval are the main draw. One thing that’s crucial to remember about FHA loans? You do NOT need to meet a first-time homebuyer requirement to apply and be approved. Some consumers still, after all this time, mistakenly believe that FHA loans are only for those who have never owned a home before. That is NOT TRUE. When planning an FHA mortgage, it’s important to start considering your financial needs and goals as early as you can. Your decisions in this area may make your FHA loan options more obvious or attainable depending on | more...

October 6, 2021

Federal Disaster Relief For FHA Borrowers In Montana, New Hampshire

By Joe Wallace

The 2021 disaster season has seen a large number of federal disaster area declarations; that combined with a global pandemic and it’s easy to see that mortgage relief in any form is a much-needed thing. In October 2021, the FHA and HUD announced foreclosure relief in areas of New Hampshire and Montana affected by natural disasters. In New Hampshire, those areas included the counties of Cheshire and Sullivan which were harmed by severe storms and floods. In Montana, areas affected by something known as the Richard Spring Fire received a major disaster declaration for Rosebud County and the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. In declaring these areas as federal disaster areas, HUD is able to offer foreclosure relief in those areas–a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of FHA-insured mortgages starting on the | more...

October 5, 2021

Refinancing With An FHA Loan

By Joe Wallace

Refinancing a mortgage can have pros and cons–knowing them both can help you make a more informed choice about the type of refinance option you choose. There are cash-out refinance loans, no-cash out, and for those with existing FHA mortgages, an FHA Streamline Refinance option that usually requires some type of benefit for the borrower. The pros and cons of a Streamline Refinance are fairly simple. In the “pro” column, you get something that benefits you in the form of a lower monthly payment or lower interest rate. Or you get out of an adjustable rate mortgage into a fixed-rate loan. In the “cons” column, the biggest drawback is–depending on the term of your new loan compared to the term of your original mortgage–a renewed loan term. If you had | more...

September 30, 2021

Before You Apply For An FHA Mortgage

By Joe Wallace

One of the biggest worries about buying a home? Having good enough credit to qualify. Do you know what it takes to raise your credit scores? Do you know what it takes to do so without paying a third party to do things on your behalf? Improving your credit scores ahead of an FHA mortgage loan application requires time, which is why financial advisors say it’s best to start early when planning and saving for your loan. Raising your credit scores means changing some basic habits associated with your payments, and getting into new habits can be an adjustment. But that is not the reason why it takes time to repair your credit. There are three basic issues you should be concerned with if you want to raise your score. | more...

September 23, 2021

Bad Credit And FHA Home Loan Options

By Joe Wallace

The term “bad credit” tends to feel a bit stigmatizing. Borrowers who have had past difficulty with credit have it hard enough trying to recover from the stigma of their previous credit issues without being confronted by those problems every time they want to start working on their credit. Is there such a thing as a bad credit FHA loan that can help people become homeowners and get a fresh start with credit? Technically the answer is, “it depends”, which isn’t very reassuring. But the truth of the matter is, there are FHA standards that technically make the concept of a bad credit mortgage a reality. After all, on paper FHA loan rules state that a borrower with FICO scores in the 500 range could still technically qualify for an | more...