The FHA Training Manual used for mortgage loan officer training by industry leaders such as National Association of Mortgage Brokers and hundreds of other companies! This FHA Training Package includes a 380+ page manual, an FHA Refinance Guide, an interactive CD and Free Updates. Read more!
Originating FHA insured mortgages has long been one of the most effective ways for professional loan officers to make a good living without sacrificing the well being of their customers. Low rates, no prepayment penalties, no rates that jump up 5% after 2 years, no negative amortization. A true opportunity, if you knew what you were doing, to combine helping people who really do need the help with making a good living.
Every single day I receive numerous emails and phone calls from loan originators and potential borrowers asking whether FHA guidelines have changed and asking me why a particular loan scenario can no longer be approved as an FHA loan. Consumers, in particular often get confused when I explain that FHA guidelines are not the issue. The problem is with the lender they or their mortgage broker have chosen.
HUD has always had a little patience with those lenders who did not get their audited financials prepared in time. The FHA guidelines up to now have provided for a 30 day warning notice. During that 30 days the lender had the opportunity to cure the infraction, pay a $1000 fee and not risk losing their FHA approval. As usual in the mortgage business, lenders have taken advantage of this accommodation.
Just a quick heads up about a change to the guidelines for the FHA 95% loan to value cash out refinance program effective for all case numbers issued after January 1, 2009. This change does not apply to the standard 85% loan to value program.
The guidelines already included additional requirements that many loan officers have overlooked when taking applications for 95% loan to value cash out refinances: Read the rest of this entry
A lot has been going on in the world of FHA since my last post, so there is quite a bit of catching up to do!
First, let me remind you about the changes that are happening with FHA loan limits and the down payment requirements in January. Don’t let these catch you flat footed with your clients losing their loans. More on that in a separate post.
Here is HUD’s press release on the new loan limits in case you haven’t seen it. It is a lower limit for several areas that had temporarily higher limits to try to help overcome the foreclosure problems those areas are facing. Maybe that crisis was resolved and I just didn’t notice? Anyway, here is the press release. Not much more for me to add. Read the rest of this entry
I have previously expressed my view that the “Hope For Homeowners” program is really more of a “Hope For Politicians” program designed to make the citizens believe that the politicians really care about them. According to articles I have seen quoting Fox News (although I haven’t found the source quote yet), only 79 borrowers have been accepted into the program in the month since it officially began. Although, to be fair, secondary mortgage market issues can create quite a gap between the legal start date and the actual start date of such a mortgage program.
As I spend time reading all the websites that seem to rejoice over reciting every detail of the downfall of the mortgage industry, I see many comments bringing attention to HUD’s efforts to get rid of seller paid down payment assistance. I usually find that these comments are being made by those with no access to any real information other than the misleading and often inaccurate numbers issued by the political appointees at HUD.
