Yesterday, I wrote about a Gallup Poll that indicated people were not optimistic about homeownership. Well, today we hear that banks are excited about a resurgence on home purchases (Home Purchases). What does it all mean? Who do you believe? Take a minute and read this article and you may get more confused. Refinances were good in January and February,…
You are an underwriter processing a FHA loan transaction and the appraiser has reported that the subject property has a private well & septic system yet public utilities may be available. Should you require evidence of hook-up to the public system as a condition of your approval? HUD’s draft 4000.1 Handbook (which is scheduled to go into effect for loan…
It must be true because I read it in the newspapers. Right? Not necessarily. Headlines and related articles can be written to be deceiving. Take this headline (Optimism). Based on the headline, one would be led to believe that today, according to a Gallup Poll, people are not too optimistic about owning a home. Gallup is a pretty reputable polling…
Now, here’s the other side. The DOJ has filed suit against Quicken loans for the improper origination of FHA-insured loans (Return Fire). DOJ alleges that Quicken was somewhat remiss in their underwriting and approval of the FHA loans in question. The battle lines are drawn. Quicken says they didn’t do anything wrong. DOJ says they made hundreds of FHA loans…
Looking to buy a property in which you can both live in and operate a business? Your financing options are about to greatly expand if one of HUD/FHA’s proposed Rule changes goes into effect on June 15, 2015 as planned! At the present time, a prospective borrower may utilize FHA Section 203(b) financing to purchase a mixed-use property if the…
A recent study conducted by Inman, a real estate information firm, found that almost 50% of the realtors surveyed preferred to do business with a Mortgage Broker, over a Bank or Independent Mortgage Banker (Preference). Surprised? Maybe you shouldn’t be. Brokers have become a little more flexible when it comes to courting Realtors and other business sources, than other mortgage…
