Tag Archives: FHA

Fewer than 500,000 homeowners have received permanent assistance through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and are still current on their new payments. During the month of October, only 23,750 permanent modifications were granted. Many have called HAMP's results disappointing, but administration officials assert that the full spectrum of housing policies have helped bring stability to a very challenging housing market.

Mortgage fraud has increased by more than 20 percent since fraud rates reached their lowest point in early 2009, according to CoreLogic. The company says higher risk, high-volume programs, including those offered by the Federal Housing Administration and the Treasury's Home Affordable Refinance Program, as well as REO and short sales accounted for much of the increase. All are areas where activity has risen sharply over short periods of time, or where safeguards are not squarely in place, CoreLogic says.

The Federal Housing Administration says it has sustained significant losses from home loans insured prior to 2009. As a result, its capital reserve ratio remains below the threshold mandated by law. The agency has $4.7 billion in cash reserves, which equals 0.5 percent of outstanding single-family mortgages insured. The minimum requirement is 2 percent. Despite the shortfall, Commissioner David Stevens says the agency will not need a taxpayer subsidy, and he stressed that even in a worst-case scenario, there's enough money to cover claim losses.

First-time homebuyers purchased half of all homes that were sold from July 2009 to June 2010, according to an annual survey of buyers and sellers conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). It's the highest share of first-time homebuyers in the history of NAR's study, which dates back to 1981. The trade group attributed its findings to the success of the government's tax credits, but also voiced concern that today's credit policy restrictions are locking responsible borrowers out of homeownership.

The mortgage insurance division of Genworth Financial, Inc. now accepts Federal Housing Administration (FHA) appraisals as part of its conventional mortgage underwriting process. Available to lenders who are approved to do business with Genworth Mortgage Insurance, appraisals originally completed for an FHA loan can now be used for a conventional Genworth-insured loan. The company says this new arrangement allows it to underwrite conventional applications in as little as 48 hours at no additional cost to the borrower.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured 1.74 million single-family mortgages during fiscal year 2010, which for the agency ended in September. The collective value of the loans endorsed was $318.8 billion. FHA's loan volume for the year was down 10.3 percent from 2009, and came in below the 1.87 million mortgages it had previously projected would be endorsed in the 2010 fiscal year. The agency's serious delinquency rate stood at 8.4 percent at year-end. At the same time in 2009, the rate was 8.3 percent.

Buyers of REO homes owned by HUD may have their closing dates pushed back after this Friday, but the federal agency says any delays will be brief. Rumors have circulated from various corners of the industry that HUD is planning a moratorium on REO sales expected to close after the end of this week, but a spokesperson for the government agency stressed to DSNews.com, ""HUD is not suspending sales of HUD REO properties on November 5th or any other time. HUD's new asset managers will continue to list and sell HUD homes.""

HUD has issued new guidelines which ease the requirements for loan amounts the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) can insure. The federal agency's previous policy was that the total of all liens against a subject property, including the FHA-insured first mortgage and any subordinate liens, could not exceed the maximum amount insurable based on geographic location. But HUD's latest Mortgagee Letter eliminates that requirement for both purchase and refinance transactions.

Kirchmeyer & Associates and its sister company, Real Info, recently partnered with Valligent to release a new collateral valuation product for appraising vacant residential land. The new solution, ParcelView, is intended to replace or enhance a lender's valuation tools for residential land collateral assessment and is expected to save lenders up to 50 percent compared to traditional land appraisals.

The federal government's fraud task force is investigating possible criminal violations in connection with foreclosure documentation errors reported by at least five mortgage servicers. HUD is spearheading the multi-agency probe, which is in its early stages. But HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told reporters this week that his office has been scrutinizing the industry's servicing practices for the past five months, and has concluded that the documentation problems grabbing headlines are not widespread.