Articles Tagged With: FHA Loan Rules

August 2, 2021

Buying Your First Home With An FHA Mortgage

What do you need to know about buying your first home? If you want to explore your FHA home loan options there are some things to remember–FHA mortgages require a 3.5% down payment, it’s true, but you can apply for local down payment assistance to help offset that expense. A first-time home buyer may have state and local programs open to them that can help. But that’s just one aspect of buying your first home you should be mindful of. Some don’t realize how flexible an FHA mortgage can be. You can select a typical suburban house to buy, but you also have the option to apply for an FHA mobile home loan, an FHA condo loan, etc. One thing to remember about all of these options–FHA loans do not | more...

July 26, 2021

FHA And HUD Announce Streamlined Foreclosure Relief

By Joe Wallace

The FHA and HUD have announced mortgage relief streamlined for those who need assistance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with FHA mortgages have a new “FHA COVID-19 Recovery waterfall” which “streamlines and revises FHA’s previous options for struggling homeowners, reduces required documentation, and allows mortgage servicers to provide greater payment reduction for eligible homeowners with FHA-insured Single Family Title II forward mortgages” according to the HUD official site. “This next step in the evolution of FHA’s COVID-19 response is a significant and meaningful way to help those homeowners who will be at a critical point in their recovery in the coming months and transitioning out of forbearance to permanent sustainable payments,” which are the words of FHA Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lopa Kolluri, who was quoted in | more...

July 9, 2021

Pro Tips For FHA Home Loans

By Joe Wallace

There is still time to take advantage of the higher mortgage loan limits for FHA home loans in 2021, and if you don’t know what it takes to be approved for an FHA single family loan this year, there are some pro tips you can use to get much closer to home loan approval. Pro Tip: Are you worried about your FICO scores? Remember that FHA standards include a requirement of a 580 FICO score or better for the lowest down payment. But the FHA standards are not the only minimum credit score requirements at work–the lender’s own standards also play a part. That is why you should start getting your credit ready early–at least a year ahead of your application for a single-family home loan. That’s not something many | more...

July 8, 2021

Worried About FHA Home Loan Interest Rates?

By Joe Wallace

What forces affect FHA home loan interest rates? If you are worried about getting the best FHA loan rate, you should know what factors go into the mortgage rate you are offered by a participating lender. There are multiple factors that influence rates, some are market forces but some are directly in the borrower’s control–at least in terms of the rate you could be offered. The most important thing to understand about rates–especially home loan interest rates–is that they fluctuate frequently. This means that some aspects of the rate you are offered are beyond your control. Other aspects are in the borrower’s ability to change for better or worse. What do we mean? Your Choices Can Affect The Interest Rate You Are Offered The choices you make as a consumer | more...

July 2, 2021

Down Payment Help For Your Home Loan

By Bruce Reichstein

If you need a home loan but worry about the down payment, you may be able to take advantage of state-run or locally operated down payment assistance programs in your area. The FHA home loan program itself does not offer down payment assistance so you will need to find a local program that can help. What should you know about down payment assistance programs? For a start, these programs can be used with an FHA mortgage to purchase an owner-occupied single-family residence. In some cases you may be able to purchase a home with more than one living unit, but occupancy is a requirement both for the FHA loan program for single families as well as many down payment assistance options. For FHA loans, the minimum required 3.5% (of the | more...

June 25, 2021

Reasons You Might Be Denied A Mortgage

By Bruce Reichstein

There are many reasons why a mortgage underwriter might deny your home loan application. There are some very obvious, Mortgage 101 reasons that you’ll read about in most finance blogs or mortgage loan blogs. Among the most obvious answers? Low credit scores, a borrower with a history of late or missed payments for housing obligations, and homes that do not pass the appraisal process. But what about the not-so-obvious ones? Red Flags For The Lender: Recent Career Changes Could you be denied a home loan if you have recently changed jobs and the switch resulted in you earning less money or moving downward (career-wise) rather than upward? It’s possible, depending on a variety of factors. It’s also possible to be turned down for a mortgage loan if you have recently | more...

June 18, 2021

Changes To FHA Home Loan Policy: Student Loan Debt

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development official site has published a press release announcing an important revision to FHA Single-Family home loan guidelines in HUD 4000.1 concerning how a participating FHA lender should consider student loan debt as part of the loan approval process. Before the publication of HUD 4000.1, the FHA Single-Family Loan program handbook, FHA loan rules “did not address how Mortgagees should calculate future payments of deferred student loan debt which, once due, could negatively impact a Borrower’s long-term ability to repay their Mortgage and other monthly obligations” according to the HUD press release. What’s more, FHA loan rules did not consider deferred and non-deferred student loan debt separately. When HUD 4000.1 was published to replace HUD 4155, FHA loan rules were modified to require a | more...

June 10, 2021

Mortgage Advice: Are You A First-Time Homebuyer?

By Joe Wallace

Are you a first-time homebuyer? There are some issues you should know about when you start your journey toward owning a home. It is a very good idea to make a checklist before you start and add to it along the way. Start your process as organized as you possibly can-there are some important things to do before you ever fill out home loan paperwork and there are a lot of little details. Organizing, checklists, and goal-setting are all important skills you’ll develop or continue to develop during this process. Real Estate Agents: To Use Or Not To Use? A real estate agent can be a big help for a first-time home buyer but you do NOT have to use one if you don’t want to. This is a choice | more...

June 7, 2021

FHA/HUD Near Current Deadlines For Ending COVID “Flexibilities”

By Bruce Reichstein

On March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared a national emergency in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Not long after, the FHA and HUD published details of altered FHA loan procedures designed to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. These altered procedures included modified employment verification, appraisal processes, and appraisal protocols such as exterior-only options. The HUD guidelines for these modified policies were intended to address the specific needs and risks associated with in-person requirements during COVID. Some of the temporary policies were allowed to expire but then got reinstated. Others simply had their deadlines extended. In January of 2021, President Joseph R. Biden announced a plan called the National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness, and in response, temporary FHA and HUD policies were | more...

May 18, 2021

Home Loan Down Payment Assistance Programs

By Joe Wallace

If you need a home loan but are not sure about being able to make your down payment, you may have help waiting for you in the form of a local home loan down payment assistance program. These are offered by a variety of entities including state housing agencies and can help first-time borrowers and those who have not owned homes before in the last three years. They may also be offered to those who don’t meet either of the criteria listed here, depending on circumstances. What do you need to know about down payment help? The first thing to know is that the terms and conditions will vary from state to state and even from agency to agency. There are no standardized offerings for down payment assistance. Some borrowers | more...