The summer season is here! With Memorial Day now past and our veterans honored (hopefully not forgotten), we move on to the business of financing the spring and summer sales. By most accounts, things look good for housing and mortgage financing. The economy continues to grow, albeit at a slightly slower pace than we wanted and expected. With this growth,…
It sounds as though we may go back to the old military draft system. No, it’s only for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac requirements to provide programs to serve the needs of very low, low, and moderate-income home buyers. FHFA announced it is extending the deadline for comments on their Evaluation Guidance to meet these requirements from May 15th to…
Everyone knows that we need first time homebuyers in the market so we can continue the stream of move up homebuyers. This usually signifies how the economy and the housing markets are faring. The better the economy, the better jobs and wage growth, the more likely consumers will be in a better position to buy their first home or move…
No, it’s not a new undersea adventure to raise the Titanic or find some long lost sunken treasures, it’s the movement by the Agencies and FHA to provide low down payment financing to first-time and low-to-moderate income home buyers. About a year ago, both Fannie and Freddie announced the reinstatement of their 3% down payment loan programs. This was done…
Was it the result of the recent rate hike, the reintroduction of the low LTV home loans by the GSEs, or maybe the FHA rate cut? Whatever it was, it appears many first time homebuyers are dipping their proverbial feet into homeownership waters. According to recent reports, FHA-insured lending dramatically increased over the past year. In many cases, these FHA…
Here’s one that might have you scratching your head. According to a recent FHFA report, mortgages made to first-time homebuyers tend to perform worse than those made to repeat buyers. That would seem to indicate that first-time homebuyers are riskier than established homebuyers. Fannie Mae doesn’t agree (FHFA View). Fannie says it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Although they’re both…
