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FHA Permits PACE-Assessed Properties

Paperwork Files BHThe debate around Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs is heating up with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announcement permitting FHA-insured mortgages on some PACE-assessed properties, according to a recent report from CoreLogic [1].

From 2008 to 2010 PACE over twenty states adopted enabling legislation for PACE. For these programs, local governments sell bonds whose proceeds fund green home improvements. The bonds are repaid through supplemental property assessments. For example, a homeowner can fund a $30,000 solar energy system by paying an additional amount on her property tax bill for 20 years. If she sells the house, the new owner takes over the assessment payments. The obligation follows the property – not the borrower.

The report notes that PACE hit a wall in 2010 in the form of the Government-Sponsored Entities (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Most PACE programs provide for super-priority lien status – like property taxes – and ahead of an existing or later first mortgage. CoreLogic says that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their regulator/conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), said no – they would not buy mortgages on homes with outstanding first-priority PACE assessments. They argued that in foreclosure, the PACE lien’s primary position would magnify the mortgage-holder’s losses.

But now, the report states that as part of the Obama administration’s “Clean Energy Savings for All” initiative, the FHA will allow mortgages on PACE properties, but only if the specific local PACE program meets a handful of strict criteria. CoreLogic says that most notably, these criteria include only the delinquent PACE assessment amounts can take priority over the first mortgage. The non-delinquent PACE balance has to fall behind the first mortgage; the PACE obligation can’t be accelerated upon default; and in foreclosure, the PACE obligation has to run with the property, passing to the new homeowner.

The report states though that lenders may not be quick to embrace this added flexibility as they worry that their obligation to screen each local program creates additional indemnity and risk related to the False Claims Act. Likewise, CoreLogic states that servicers will bear additional advancing obligations for delinquent PACE payments.

More broadly, the report asks will the FHA’s PACE flexibility come at the expense of the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund? Servicer reimbursement of delinquent PACE assessments could erode foreclosure recoveries, according to CoreLogic. Additionally, the “go-with-the-property” requirement could reduce the foreclosure sales price since buyers pay less for properties with higher annual assessments, all things being equal. But CoreLogic states the FHA concluded that all things aren’t equal – that the added value of energy efficiency improvements offsets these loss contributors.

The FHA’s position is now at odds with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, says the report, who still won’t purchase loans with PACE liens unless they are truly subordinated, and in FHFA’s view, liens that run with properties and aren’t extinguished through foreclosure are not true second liens.

In addition, CoreLogic states that concerns remain around oversight, disclosures and underwriting for PACE programs and that despite some Energy Department Best Practices and a few state-required underwriting standards, there are still far fewer required disclosures and consumer protections for a $30,000 PACE assessment than for a comparably sized second mortgage.