Tag Archives: HUD

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Thursday that Bank of America has agreed to pay $161,180 to settle allegations of maternity-based discrimination. A complaint had been filed by the Fair Housing Council of Orange County (FHCOC) against BofA alleging that one of its San Jose branches refused to refinance a woman's mortgage because she was on maternity leave. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in mortgage lending and real estate-related transactions based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status, or disability.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Carol Galante announced in a press conference Friday FHA's program to sell mortgage loan pools to investors. The Distressed Asset Stabilization Program, designed to give homeowners with seriously delinquent loans a chance to avoid foreclosure, is an expansion of an earlier FHA pilot program that allows investors to purchase loan pools headed for foreclosure. Investors are then charged with the task of working to bring the loan out of default. The program starts in September 2012 with a sale of the loan pools.

As recent data provide reasons to be both positive and worried about the economy, restrained optimism seems to be the phrase to describe how the public should respond to current economic indicators. Wednesday's release of the Beige Book revealed economic outlooks remain positive, but contacts were slightly more guarded in their optimism, while the Obama administration's Housing Scorecard relayed a similar sentiment. The scorecard provides an overview of the state of the market based on reports published within the public and private sectors.

Purchasing foreclosures also means discounts, but with the markdown is the price of repairs. According to RealtyTrac, foreclosures or REOs sold at an average discount of 27 percent compared to non-distressed properties in the first quarter of 2012. Through an FHA 203(k) loan, potential buyers who want to purchase a discounted foreclosure but don't have cash for the repairs may find a way to receive financing.

New home sales rose 3.3 percent month-over-month in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, the Commerce Department and HUD reported Wednesday. On a yearly basis, new home sales rose 9.9 percent. And, the good news did not end there. This report was followed by the National Association of Realtor's existing home sales report released Tuesday, which showed the sale of existing homes rose 3.4 percent on a monthly basis and 10 percent year-over-year. In comparison to the sale of existing homes, Paul Diggle, property economist with Capital Economics, said new home sales will still continue to lag behind the existing home sales market, and one of the reasons for this is competition with discounted foreclosures and short sales.

New homes sales rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, the Commerce Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported jointly Wednesday (May 23). Sales for March were revised upward from 328,000 to 332,000. Sales for March were revised upward from 328,000 to 332,000. Economists had expected the report to show a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 335,000 for new home sales in April. New home sales in April were up 9.9 percent from April 2011, the seventh straight month of year-over-year increases.

Buying a home is the biggest financial investment many people will ever make. It's also an investment that, in recent years, has become lost for millions. According to data from CoreLogic, since September 2008, there have been 3.5 million completed foreclosures. Through counseling, HUD found homeowners are more likely to stay in their properties, even when facing foreclosure. HUD released reports on two types of counseling: pre-purchase and foreclosure prevention. In both studies, HUD found housing counseling significantly improved the likelihood homeowners remained in their homes. For those who enrolled into pre-purchase counseling, HUD found that 35 percent of participants became homeowners within 18 months of pre-purchase counseling and only one of those buyers fell behind on mortgage payments.

Housing permits dipped in April for the first time in four months, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development reported jointly Wednesday but housing starts improved. Both indicators remained far above year-earlier levels. The month-over-month increase in starts in April appeared still larger because of a downward revision to March's report. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected permits to drop month-over-month and starts to increase.

At a time when mortgage rates have hit record-low numbers, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan stressed urgency in getting housing refinance bills on President Barack Obama's to-do list for Congress passed. During a teleconference Friday, which preceded Obama's stop into Reno, Nevada, to boost support for the housing proposals, Donovan outlined three bills that were introduced to Congress that week. Donovan says the bills would save homeowners an average of $2,500 to $3,000 a year.

HUD announced Thursday that it reached a $202 million settlement with Deutsche Bank and Mortgageit over allegations of misconduct and false certifications with a government lender program. The agency said that Mortgageit acknowledged and accepted responsibility for false certifications it submitted to HUD in order to gain from a direct lender program under the Federal Housing Administration.