Articles Tagged With: FHA Mortgage

October 18, 2021

HUD Announces Settlement In Alabama Fair Housing Case

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 15, 2021

Credit Scores For An FHA Home Loan: When Low Credit Is Not Bad Credit

By Bruce Reichstein

Are you worried about your credit scores for an FHA home loan? When is a low credit score a reflection of bad credit behavior? FHA home loan rules specify that the lender must ensure a borrower as a 500 FICO score at the very minimum in order to qualify for an FHA mortgage, but your credit score numbers don’t tell the whole story. It’s true that FHA loan rule minimums for FICO scores do not always reflect the participating lender’s credit score requirements; borrowers are technically eligible for an FHA mortgage with the lowest possible down payment if they are applying with FICO scores at 580 or higher. The lender may require a credit score of 620 or higher for the same applicants. But your FICO scores only make up | 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 13, 2021

FHA Streamline Refinance Tips

By Bruce Reichstein

Are you interested in a lower interest rate on your home loan? What about a lower monthly payment? Or perhaps you are in an adjustable-rate mortgage and are looking for a way out before your next rate adjustment? These are all motivations to refinance. You’ll read plenty online about what it means to apply for an FHA Streamline refinance, but what do you need to know aside from the things EVERY home loan website talks about? Yes, FHA Streamline Refinance loans are for existing FHA borrowers only. Yes, FHA Streamlines normally require the borrower to get a tangible benefit from the loan like a lower rate, a lower monthly payment, etc. Yes, FHA Streamlines have no FHA-required credit check or appraisal requirement. And yes, the lender is free to require | 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...

Rehab Refinance Loans, reverse mortgages

October 7, 2021

Need A Refinance? Avoid Getting Scammed

By Joe Wallace

In 2021, the official site of the Minnesota Attorney General included a page warning consumers not to fall for home loan refinance scams. During the pandemic, many borrowers found themselves in need of refinancing or other moves to make home loans more affordable in times of reduced income and other financial stressors. If you have been looking to get out of an adjustable-rate mortgage, or are trying to get a lower monthly payment on a fixed-rate home loan, you may notice third parties reaching out to you via e-mail, social media, text messages, or phone calls offering to help you refinance your mortgage. “But be careful”, the Minnesota AG official site warns, “Some homeowners have become the target of fraudulent refinancing offers” that sometimes begin with a phone call from | 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...

October 1, 2021

FHA Mortgage Relief Announced For Vermont Disaster Areas

By Bruce Reichstein

In many cases, the FHA and HUD make announcements about disaster relief after tropical storms, hurricanes, forest fires. But you don’t have to experience a Category 3 hurricane to be severely affected by weather; one excellent example of this comes with the HUD announcement of federal disaster assistance for parts of the State of Vermont that were in the path of severe storms and flooding at the end of July 2021. On September 29, 2021, there was a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for two Vermont counties–Windham and Bennington. Thanks to that Presidential declaration, HUD has offered an automatic 90-day foreclosure moratorium for those two counties–this affects those with FHA mortgages, “commenced on the date of the Presidential major disaster declaration, and foreclosures of mortgages to Native American borrowers guaranteed under | 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...