Articles Tagged With: FHA Loans

May 31, 2022

FHA Loans And Home Equity

How soon do you need to start thinking about home equity? Believe it or not, you start making decisions about equity right away in the planning and saving process of your loan. How? The amount of money you save for a down payment is a decision that directly affects the amount of the loan you want. The bigger your down payment, the more potential equity you could start out with. Essentially your home’s equity is the difference between the current market value of the home and how much you owe on the mortgage. That’s one reason why a bigger down payment affects your equity–you’ll start out owning the mortgage amount minus that money down. Since the equity in your home is subject to change, it’s important to pay attention to | more...

April 27, 2022

The End Of April Is The End Of Fair Housing Month 2022

By Joe Wallace

Saturday, April 30, 2022, is the last day of Fair Housing Month. But the advent of May doesn’t mean that the fight against housing discrimination comes to an end. The Department of Housing and Urban Development encourages all who may have experienced some form of discrimination in the housing process to come forward and report the incidents to the HUD Office of Housing and Equal Opportunity or FHEO. FHEO is responsible for enforcing the Fair Housing Act, but also the following laws that contribute to fair housing for all: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Section 109 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The | more...

April 25, 2022

Before You Fill Out An FHA Home Loan Application

By Bruce Reichstein

How can a new borrower prepare for a home loan application? There are some important steps to take and not all of them are as obvious as others. For example, do you know where your down payment money will come from? If you are still trying to figure out how to budget and save for it, you might consider investigating local down payment assistance programs in your area. But there are other things to do before you turn in a home loan application. Check Your Credit Use That’s a no-brainer, right? But there are issues you should consider when examining your credit that may not be so obvious. For example, some first-time homebuyers don’t realize that it’s not just your credit scores, but also your credit utilization that gets scrutinized | more...

April 22, 2022

Employment And Income Verification For FHA Loans

By Joe Wallace

Here is a common variation on an FHA loan question we get frequently. “I have been employed for about two years, do I qualify for an FHA mortgage?” FHA loans require a variety of financial qualifications including FICO scores, your history of payments on financial obligations, your debt-to-income ratio, and other factors. Lender standards and FHA loan rules both apply, as do some state laws and other regulations. There’s no individual factor that determines a borrower’s ability to qualify for an FHA mortgage, a number of variables come into play as mentioned above. Sometimes one or more factors can disqualify a borrower, it’s true-a low FICO score, debt ratios that are too high, missed payments in the last 12 months leading up to the loan application, or major changes in | more...

April 20, 2022

Buying Your First Home: What To Remember

By Joe Wallace

There is a little checklist of things not to do when buying a home. The top of the list? Not shopping around for a lender. FHA home loans have multiple options including the type of loan (fixed-rate, adjustable-rate mortgage) and the loan term (15 years or 30 years). But there are also multiple options based on the property you want to buy; a suburban home, a townhouse, condo unit, or even a multi-unit home. That variety of options brings with it a need to know more specifics about the type of loan you seek, and there are definitely things NOT to do when you are considering these options. And not all the considerations are directly related to applying for and getting approved for an FHA mortgage. Some have a lot | more...

April 13, 2022

Paying Your FHA Loan Off Early

By Joe Wallace

Some of the big differences between an FHA mortgage and conventional loans involve more forgiving credit qualifying requirements, as well as a lower down payment. There is also an FHA loan rule that requires that the borrower have the ability to freely sell or transfer the property in any way he or she sees fit once the mortgage loan has closed and the borrower has started using the home as their primary residence. But there’s another important difference between some conventional mortgages and FHA loans. Did you know that under the FHA loan program you cannot be penalized or charged for early payoff of the loan? In years past, this guidance was found in HUD 4155.2 Chapter Three, which had a section describing what the FHA terms, “prepayment”. And while | more...

April 12, 2022

5 things to know about FHA Appraisals

By Joe Wallace

What do you need to know about FHA appraisals? There are plenty of details to be concerned with depending on the nature of the property you want to buy but some issues loom larger than others. FHA Appraisals Are Not Home Inspections That’s an obvious one. The FHA appraisal is meant as a tool for the lender and not the borrower. What’s not so obvious? The appraisal process does not require the appraiser to be an expert in all systems of the home. That means your roof may have problems the appraiser can’t identify, or the HVAC system might be experiencing symptoms unfamiliar to your appraiser. In some cases, the appraiser might not even set foot inside a building to be appraised. It’s not so hard to understand why you | more...

April 11, 2022

What Hurts Your Credit Ahead Of A Home Loan

By Joe Wallace

Do you know why your credit score could drop ahead of a home loan application? If you are worried about your ability to qualify for the lowest down payment for a home loan with your FICO scores, it’s smart to know what can hurt your credit while you are in the planning stages of your FHA mortgage. There are three basic things that could affect your credit scores before you apply for a home loan. These issues are not the only ones, but they are some of the most common. You should anticipate these problems while you are planning and saving for your FHA home loan and take steps to ensure they do not become an issue. The first area to watch that potentially affects your credit scores? Your payment | more...

March 31, 2022

Mortgage Scams: Homeowner Beware!

By Joe Wallace

Have you been contacted by a third party offering to refinance your FHA home loan? During the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak, there were reports about home loan scammers trying to trick people into applying for refinance loans, mortgage relief, and foreclosure avoidance measures that weren’t what they were advertised to be. Some fell prey to these scams, while others relied on “best practices” to help them avoid being fooled into thinking they might be dealing with a legitimate third party offering help. What are these best practices and how can you save your home from loan default and/or foreclosure or simply refinance your existing home loan without getting swindled? The first key is the nature of the contact with you, the homeowner. Did you initiate it or did it | more...

March 24, 2022

FHA Cash-Out Refinancing vs. VA Cash-Out Refinancing

By Joe Wallace

What are the major differences between VA Cash-Out Refinance loans and the FHA Cash-Out Refinance loan program? There are several, and some borrowers may have the option to consider both, including active duty military members, Reservists, members of the National Guard, veterans, and certain surviving spouses of military members who died as a result of military service. And then there are borrowers who are just trying to compare the options on the market. These house hunters may also be reviewing other home loan options such as USDA and conventional loans. What should people know about the FHA and VA versions of this refi loan option? As you can guess from the above, VA mortgages and refinance loans aren’t offered to the general public. Some sources report that in 2019 alone | more...