HUD/FHA announced on Jan. 28th, that it will be lowering mortgage insurance rates for multifamily (5 or more units) mortgages in an effort to increase multifamily loan originations. This could result in the rehabilitation of as many as 12,000 additional units of affordable housing per year on a national basis. Default/claim rates on the FHA multifamily loan portfolio have traditionally…
We’re off and running. The 2016 presidential race is officially underway with the completion of the Iowa Caucus. What is a “Caucus” anyway? It’s a meeting of supporters or members of a particular political party or movement. So, what we had was a meeting of supporters of the movement to elect a new president who put forth their opinions on…
The debate rages on among the mortgage lending professionals and their respective trade groups. Should FHA again reduce their required mortgage insurance premiums? If so, should they reduce the upfront premium, the annual renewals, or maybe both? (FHA Cut). Proponents of the additional rate cuts say that the prior actions to reduce the annual premiums helped make FHA loans much…
Financing options for mixed-use properties have greatly expanded thanks to a change in a long-standing FHA rule limiting FHA Section 203(b) mortgage insurance to properties that have non-residential portions exceeding 25% of the total floor area. Up until September 14, 2015, a prospective borrower was able to utilize FHA Section 203(b) financing to purchase a mixed-use property under certain conditions.…
HUD/FHA announced that their FHA maximum mortgage limits will remain the same in 2016, in a press release dated December 9, 2015. There will be no change in the national loan limit “ceiling” of $625,500 or the “floor” of $271,050. This announcement will end all speculation that the FHA ceiling and/or floor would be increasing due to rising home prices…
Most lenders are aware that Fannie Mae has an established policy that requires the processing of pre-funding (or pre-closing) reviews as part of a lender’s overall written Quality Control Plan. These documented procedures must include (at a minimum) the timing of the reviews, the loan selection process, verification of data & documents and reporting. However, with the numerous policy &…
