HUD and the Department of Justice have released new guidelines regarding “reasonable modifications” under the Fair Housing Act.

FHA financing can be used to purchase properties with one to four units providing borrowers live in at least one unit. This means one to three units can be rented, so borrowers who finance with an FHA read more

Today’s headlines largely involve New York Governor Elliot Spitzer, a former fighting prosecutor and the scourge of Wall Street. If the allegations are to be believed, Spitzer was willing to spend $5,000 of his own money for an evening of fun and entertainment with a woman who provided such services.

Other than Mrs. Spitzer, why anyone read more

If you want a really good reason not to “modernize” the FHA program with smaller down payments and risk-based insurance premiums, just look at the quarter-to-quarter foreclosure data from the Mortgage Bankers Association:

___ The foreclosure start rate for prime ARMs increased from 0.41 percent to 1.06 percent.

___ read more

The latest HUD stats show that the FHA program is off to the best start since August 2003. At the rate things are going the FHA could receive 1.8 million loan applications this year.

During the first 15 days of February, HUD endorsed 38,598 FHA mortgages. This total includes 15,652 purchase money mortgages, 17,736 refinanced transactions and 5,210 reverse mortgages. At this read more

On Tuesday, February 12, 2008, the Bush Administration announced the Treasury Department’s “Project Lifeline.” Simply put, “Project Lifeline is a foreclosure prevention program developed by six of this country’s largest home loan servicers (which collectively account for approximately 60% of the nation’s estimated $9 trillion residential receivables market) and merely “blessed” by the Treasure Department. Project read more

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Ginnie Mae has announced that it will create a new security for FHA high-balance loans, the bigger FHA mortgages allowed this year under the Stimulus Package.

Why is this important?

If super jumbo mega-loans were placed in the same package as loans which met the old conforming loan limits, then the worry has been that read more

Below is the release relating to new and higher FHA mortgage rates from OFHEO — the  Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the governmental agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

TEMPORARY CONFORMING LOAN LIMITS RELEASED FOR HIGH COST AREAS
Washington, DC – The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) read more

Below please find HUD’s announcement regarding higher FHA mortgage loan limits, information released just minutes ago.

Beginning today, HUD will offer temporary FHA loan limits that will range from $271,050 to $729,750. Overall, the change in loan limits will help provide economic stability to America’s communities and give nearly 240,000 additional homeowners and homebuyers a safer, more affordable read more

Can Lender-Initiated Programs and FHA Reform Stave-Off the “R” Word?

To date, the current administration’s plan of attack for correcting the mortgage meltdown and credit crunch crises has been to: (1) place pressure on lenders to help borrowers refinance or setup affordable payment plans and (2) initiate programs and approve legislation (such as read more

Speaking in California, HUD Sec. Alphonso Jackson has announced higher loan limits beginning tomorrow, March 6th, for California. As well, says a news release issued by HUD with the hour, “new limits for the entire nation will be announced tomorrow

“Beginning tomorrow, HUD will offer temporary FHA loan limits that will range from $271,050 to $729,750. Overall, read more

The idea of rising loan limits has real consequences for buyers, sellers and lenders. If someone is at the cusp of the old limits and can finance under the new standards they can save thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. For FHA borrowers, the increase in the top FHA mortgage amount from $362,790 read more

The New York Times had a nice article over the weekend regarding Sears kit homes. These were houses you could buy from a catalog. You’d place your order and then a kit would read more

Loretta asks if she can “get an FHA loan direct from government without a mortgage broker if so how?”

The answer is no, but the idea of the getting FHA mortgages directly from the government is not a thought which is outside the realm of possibility.

The read more