FHA Mortgage Guide

FHA legislation approved by both houses of Congress will not be finalized before the July 4th recess. This means it will take several weeks to come up with compromise legislation — if there is ultimately to be any legislation at all.

The delay results from an effort in the Senate created by Sen. John Ensign ( read more

Tiffany Taylor says with regard to the proposed FHA reform measure now being considered on Capitol Hill that “I just don’t see the logic in rewarding irresponsible people that bought more house than they could afford, or spend more than they make.”

I suspect a lot read more

During the past few days The Washington Post has run an interesting-series of front-page articles looking at the mortgage crisis.

This is great stuff but it never quite gets to an important point: There was no FHA mortgage meltdown.

Fewer FHA loans, yes — after read more

FHALoanAdvice.com has a very sharp analysis of a recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal entitled The FHA Time Bomb

Written by industry veteran and FHA expert Carl Pruitt, read more

FHA modernization has passed the Senate by a vote of 83-9.

The legislation, among other features, would allow the FHA to insure up to $300 billion in new financing to help homeowners with toxic loans who face foreclosure.

However, the bill is not a read more

Downpayment assistance plans (DPAs) represent about one-third of FHA mortgage volume, and yet as we have reported HUD is at it again, trying once more to end third-party downpayment assistance programs.

Now the full-blown thinking behind the HUD action has been read more

The Bush Administration says it will veto bipartisan FHA loan reform legislation now pending on Capitol Hill. If successful, the veto would deny FHA mortgages to some 500,000 homeowners with toxic loans.

According to the White House, “the Administration has taken and continues to take aggressive actions to help families stay in their homes. Over the read more

HUD is going to send out 675,000 letters touting the joys of FHA mortgages to borrowers with toxic loans.

It’s not a bad idea, but plainly the purpose is to capture new borrowers with good credit rather than borrowers who are already delinquent.

HUD sent out 280,000 letters in February and its direct marketing efforts will now read more

Below is the official summary of the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″ which has just been introduced by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), respectively the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.

This read more

The “F” word continues to roll off of the tongue of more and more homeowners as notices of default continue to be recorded in record numbers and with no sign of letting-up. However, many are attempting to avoid foreclosure by taking advantage of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Relief Act passed in December of 2007 — legislation read more

FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery spoke at the National Press Club last week, and as you can see from the remarks below had some interesting points to make.

___The FHA mortgage program is solvent. This, of course, is radically different read more

The FHA has announced a change in its anti-flipping program to speed the sale of foreclosed homes.

Under HUD’s anti-flipping rule, borrowers cannot generally get an FHA loan if a property has been re-sold within the past 90 days. However, there are exceptions in such cases as when a property is sold by an estate, a read more

According to a White House fact sheet, “the Administration Has Taken And Continues To Take Aggressive Actions To Help Americans Keep Their Homes

“The President launched FHASecure, which has helped more than 225,000 families avoid foreclosure by refinancing into safe Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured read more

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has come out with a report which shows that the “Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008″ sponsored by Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and ranking member Richard Shelby (D-CT) would produce $800 million in new federal profits over 10 read more

Have you ever heard of a bi-monthly program for your home mortgage?

For those who do not know, so-called “bimonthly” programs are programs designed to collect at least 50% of your monthly mortgage payment every other week. These bi-monthly (more aptly named bi-weekly) programs hold themselves out as being a great way for a borrower shave read more

Having been rebuffed repeatedly in court, HUD is at it again attempting to end third-party down-payment assistance programs for FHA mortgages.

In a typical arrangement, a seller makes a contribution to a charitable organization of up to 6 percent of the sale price. The charity then provides a grant for the same amount to the buyer. read more

The Washington Post is reporting that “senior lawmakers are meeting behind closed doors to draft what they hope will be a measure to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to create a strong new regulator to oversee the mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and read more

The foreclosure mess keeps getting worse — but in the world of FHA mortgages the good news is that foreclosure levels are down.

According to figures just released by the Mortgage Bankers Association, “the percentage of loans in the foreclosure process was 2.47 percent at the read more

Tyler Belong asks Should We Fingerprint Loan Officers and suggests that such an effort would be expensive and unnecessary.

Tyler says that under a proposed nationwide licensure program, loan officers would be fingerprinted. He objects to this for two reasons:

First, “the proposed identification system is not read more

On Tuesday, May 19, 2008, the Senate Banking Committee passed the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008 (H.R. 634). The tail-end of the bill, entitled the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act (Title VI), if passed, would establish a nationwide regulating system for all mortgage loan originators and others who even assist in loan origination. read more