Articles Tagged With: HUD

January 29, 2016

FHA Announces New Insurance Rate Cuts For Multi-Family Loans

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...

January 15, 2016

HUD Charges Three Foreclosure Rescue Companies With Fraud, Discrimination

By Joe Wallace

HUD is bringing charges against three California foreclosure relief/loan modification companies according to a press release issued on the HUD official site. According to HUDNo.16-002, the agency is bringing charges against, “…three Modesto, California, home loan modification companies and nine of their agents with violating the Fair Housing Act by targeting Hispanic homeowners” for their national origin. As mentioned in the press release, laws passed as part of the Fair Housing Act prohibit discrimination in housing transactions (to include rental properties, public housing, and mortgage loans” because of national origin. “Families struggling to stay in their homes need real help, not false promises that make a bad situation worse,” said Gustavo Velasquez, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in the press release. He adds, | more...

January 8, 2016

FHA Loan Rules: When Landlords Sell To Tenants

By Joe Wallace

Sometimes when a borrower wants to buy a property with an FHA mortgage, it’s a situation where the applicant has been renting for some time and has an offer from the landlord to purchase. FHA loans do permit these transactions but there are special rules that govern them. These rules, published in HUD 4000.1, state that in some cases a higher down payment is required. But in others an exception to that requirement is possible depending on the relationship between landlord and tenant. The higher down payment requirement is needed because tenant/landlord sales can fall under something known as the “identity of interest” rule, which requires a 15% down payment in cases where identity of interest applies. According to HUD 4000.1: “The maximum LTV percentage for Identity-of-Interest transactions on Principal | more...

January 8, 2016

FHA Loans, Fair Housing Laws And Your Rights: One Family’s Fair Housing Story

By Joe Wallace

Fair Housing laws ensure that all who seek housing get fair and equal treatment. It doesn’t matter if you are a renter, a house hunter, or somewhere in between renting and owning; fair housing laws apply to you and assign certain rights and responsibilities depending on which side of the transaction you are on. We write about fair housing cases from time to time because acts of discrimination can and sometimes do affect the FHA loan process. The people discriminated against are sometimes the only ones standing in the way of future violations of fair housing laws–those who report the illegal treatment can get it stopped. The video above is published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and is part of a HUD video project aimed at educating | more...

January 7, 2016

FHA Loan Rules For Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premiums (UFMIP)

By Joe Wallace

When you buy a home with an FHA mortgage, there’s a requirement to pay an Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium or UFMIP. This is not to be confused with Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), and according to the FHA loan rules published in HUD 4000.1 most FHA loans require UFMIP. “Most FHA mortgage insurance programs require the payment of UFMIP, which may be financed into the Mortgage. The UFMIP is not considered when calculating the area-based Nationwide Mortgage Limits and LTV limits.” There are exceptions as found in HUD 4000.1: –Streamline Refinance and Simple Refinance Mortgages used to refinance a previous FHA-endorsed Mortgage on or before May 31, 2009 –Hawaiian Home Lands (Section 247) –Indian Lands (Section 248) How is the UFMIP calculated? “The UFMIP charged for all amortization terms is | more...

January 6, 2016

HUD 4000.1 On Self Employment Income For FHA Home Loans

By Joe Wallace

HUD 4000.1 has rules that govern the procedures a participating FHA lender must use to verify the income of a self employed borrower or owner of a family business. The fact that an FHA mortgage loan applicant is self-employed is not a barrier to loan approval, but there are different requirements for those who own a family business or who are considered self employed. HUD 4000.1 has instructions for the lender in these cases, beginning with a definition of who is affected by these rules: “Self-Employment Income refers to income generated by a business in which the Borrower has a 25 percent or greater ownership interest. There are four basic types of business structures. They include: –sole proprietorships; –corporations; –limited liability or S corporations; and –partnerships.” How does a lender | more...

December 28, 2015

HUD Announces Settlement With Real Estate Agency Charged With Fair Housing Act Violations

By Joe Wallace

Often when a violation of the Fair Housing Act occurs, it’s up to the victim to report the incident in order for the situation to be fixed. Those who fail to report such violations may not only cheat themselves out of a fair deal, but also allow such violations to continue to occur. Consider a recent settlement by HUD, which recently approved a pair of “Conciliation Agreements” with Delap Realty, LLC, of Northampton, Massachusetts, resolving allegations mentioned in an FHA/HUD press release that, “…the company and its agents violated the Fair Housing Act by discouraging families with children from renting over concerns the units might contain lead-based paint hazards.” Under the Fair Housing Act, it is illegal to deny or limit housing because a family has children. It’s also not | more...

December 18, 2015

FHA 203(k) and 203(h) Mortgage Loans

By Joe Wallace

The FHA offers two programs with a 203 designation. One is known as the FHA 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage, the other is the 203(h) Rehabilitation Mortgage for disaster victims. HUD 4000.1 has the policies for both types of loans–but what are the differences between the two? HUD 4000.1 describes the FHA 203(k) Rehab Loan as follows: “The Section 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance is used to: –rehabilitate an existing one- to four-unit Structure, which will be used primarily for residential purposes; –rehabilitate such a Structure and refinance the outstanding indebtedness on the Structure and the Real Property on which the Structure is located; or –purchase and rehabilitate the Structure and purchase the Real Property on which the Structure is located.” A 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage comes in two options, which are described in | more...

December 17, 2015

Mortgage Rate Trends: Fed Day, Interest Rate Hike

By Joe Wallace

We have paid more attention to mortgage rate trends this week due to a major economic event scheduled for Wednesday that has big potential to affect mortgage loan rates both in the short term and over the long term. The Fed was scheduled to meet on Wednesday to make an announcement about the possibility of along-discussed December interest rate hike. And Wednesday was the day the Fed finally announced the increase is actually happening. It’s something they have been considering, reconsidering, and delaying for years. But how does this affect the average home loan applicant? In the past, mortgage loan rates have been adversely affected by talk of a Fed rate increase–the rates would jump in the short term based on investor reaction to news of a possible hike, indicators | more...