FHA Loans and the Tax Credit for First Time Home Buyers
Filed under FHA First Time Home-Buyers, FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news · Tagged:
FHA lenders have been hoping the tax credit for first time home buyers would get extended. President Obama signed HR 3548, the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, legislation which should help FHA loan applicants, but legislation which is likely to be re-done early next year. The first-time homebuyer tax credit is for first-time purchasers could get as much as $8,000 in tax reductions if only they would please, please buy a home and buy one before December 1st. For homebuyers in 15 states, this was the last down-payment assistance program at least for home buyers in 15 states because the tax credit is considered a down-payment with FHA mortgage loans.
With December 1st soon upon us, the government responded in two ways it extended the deadline until April 30th AND it improved the benefit. What is did not do was increase the first-time write off to $15,000 from $8,000 as some in the real estate industry wanted. The first-time homebuyer credit is no longer just for first-time homebuyers. The new FHA mortgage program has been expanded to include many current homeowners as well.
The FHA loan program for current homeowners has expanded guidelines: If you have owned a home for five consecutive years out of the last eight and purchase a new principal residence between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, you can get a tax credit of up to $6,500. One of the qualification factors under the 2009 credit was that you could not have an income of more than $75,000 if single or $150,000 if married. The new rule increases the income limits to $125,000 for singles and $225,000 for joint filers to get the full write-off.
FHA Mortgage Success with Making Home Affordable
Filed under FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news, Hope for Homeowners, Making Home Affordable, Mortgage News, Published Articles · Tagged: Hope for Homeowners, Making Home Affordable
The past week we saw the State of California pass a law that banned advance fees for loan modification companies with the announcement that more than 500,000 FHA loan modifications in progress under the Making Home Affordable program. These are better results for FHA that saw very few homeowners receive mortgage relief with the Hope for Homeowners and FHA Secure refinance products. What we had before 949 applications under the Hope for Homeowners Program and only 1 mortgage approval. The FHA Secure program allowed only 3,794 delinquent borrowers who had conforming mortgages to refinance with FHA mortgage lending in 2008.
In contrast, the Obama Administration reports that 2,484,783 borrowers have sought information under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) through the end of September. Of this number, 757,955 were offered three-month trial modification and 487,081 loan modification agreements have begun. If the borrower makes three lower payments during the trial period then the loan is permanently changed to that lower rate and hopefully the home is saved from foreclosure.
New FHA Guidelines for Condos
Filed under FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news, Mortgage News · Tagged:
Under revised guidelines set to go into effect November 2, 2009, the Federal Housing Administration is implementing a new stricter approval process for condominiums to be eligible for FHA home financing. Similar in some respects to the new Fannie Mae regulations issued earlier in the year, the FHA guidelines will surely slow down condominium mortgage financing, and negatively impact first time home buyers for condominium units.
The FHA mortgage loan program designed to help more people finance homes, and more borrowers will qualify with FHA financing than with conventional financing. It is a low down payment (3.5% down) program and the credit standards are much looser. The mortgage rates are typically better, as well.
New Project Eligibility Guidelines
All condominiums (consisting of 2 or more units) must meet the following requirements:
• At least 50% of the units of a project must be owner-occupied or sold.
• Projects must be covered by hazard and liability insurance and, when applicable, flood insurance.
• No more than 15% of units can be in arrears of their condominium fees.
• No more than 25% of the property’s total floor area in a project can be used for commercial purposes.
A current reserve study must be performed to assure that adequate funds are available for the funding of capital expenditures and maintenance. The regulations don’t define what is “adequate” but guidance may be found in the new Fannie Mae guidelines which mandate at least 10% of annual operating budget in reserves.
• No more than 10% of the units may be owned by one investor.
• Rights of first refusal are permitted unless they violate discriminatory conduct under the Fair Housing Act.
• An affirmative action-type housing plan is required for both new construction and conversions.
• Previously certified projects must re-apply every 2 years.
• The “spot approval” process is eliminated in favor of a more comprehensive review process.
The net effect of these new guidelines, combined with the recent Fannie Mae guidelines, is that it will be much tougher to obtain condominium financing as many projects will not be able to pass muster. Condominium associations, trustees, managers, lenders and buyers need to prepare and do a lot more work to approve condominium loans.
New FHA Condo Guidelines Could Limit Mortgage Refinancing
Filed under FHA FAQ, FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news · Tagged: FHA streamline
In a June letter to FHA lenders from HUD, the FHA mortgage guideline revisions for condominiums and town homes were announced and documented. Unfortunately for condo owners, the guidelines have tightened for FHA lending and qualifying for mortgage refinancing may become more difficult than in previous years.
Project approval is no longer required for FHA. FHA streamline refinance loans for HUD Real Estate Owned (REO) sales. If you presently have a FHA mortgage and want a streamline refinance then you are blessed with an easier path for lowering your mortgage rate. Currently having a FHA loan is a HUD requirement for FHA streamline refinancing.
Ineligible properties include condominium (“condotels”), timeshares or segmented ownership projects, houseboat projects, multi-dwelling unit condominiums [i.e. more than one dwelling per condominium unit], and all projects not deemed to be used primarily as residential.
Here are some additional standards for condo properties, as explained by HUD:
o At least 50% of the units of a project must be owner-occupied or sold to owners who intend to occupy the units. For proposed, under construction or projects still in their initial marketing phase, FHA will allow a minimum owner occupancy amount equal to 50% of the number of presold units (the minimum presales requirement of 50% still applies).
o No more than 15% of the total units can be in arrears (more than 30 days past due) of their condominium association fee payment.
o Projects consisting of three or less units will have no more than one unit encumbered with FHA insurance.
o Projects consisting of four or more units will have no more than 30% of the total units encumbered with FHA insurance.
FHA Promotes Homeownership with 8 Thousand in Tax Incentives for Homebuyers
Filed under FHA FAQ, FHA First Time Home-Buyers, FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news, Mortgage News · Tagged: FHA lending, FHA loan, FHA mortgage, FHA mortgage rates, FHA tax credit
In a recent article, Tara-Nicholle Nelson writes about the significance of FHA mortgage loans and tax credits for first time home-buyers. A few weeks ago, it came out that the number of existing home sales had skyrocketed over the first quarter in the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis: they were up 117% in Nevada, 81% in California, 50% in Arizona and 25% in Florida, year-over-year, and Virginia and Minnesota also had double digit increases. FHA mortgage lenders have been frothing at the mouth all year, because with low FHA mortgage rates driven by Fed cuts and tax incentives, FHA lending is stronger than ever. From January to February, prices rose a tiny, but encouraging, .7 %, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly index.
Just last week, the Secretary of HUD announced new federal guidelines for FHA home loans which allow First-Time Homebuyers (FTH) to monetize their $8,000 Obama Tax Credit upfront, for use toward their down payment or closing costs, rather than only after close of escrow. How will this work? No one really knows yet – federal lending guideline changes usually take a month or so to manifest into concrete checklists and phone numbers you can call to take advantage of them. But it looks like state Housing Finance Agencies and HUD-approved nonprofit organizations will be involved, and will provide the upfront funds to borrowers (for a small fee, of course), which they’ll be reimbursed at tax time next year.
However, the author of the article, noted that she has not heard anyone actually suggest that the upfront monetization of the FHA tax credit won’t be effective at stimulating home sales. On the flip-side, the National Association of Home Buyers’ projections show that about 160,000 homes will be sold as a direct result of this new incentive. But there are folks who don’t like it, and their arguments tend to focus on the worry that no-skin-in-the-game borrowers are the sort of problem homeowner who created the market madness by just walking away when their homes devalued. The pestimistic crowd says that that we might be returning to the bad old days of 100 % financing.
FHA loan overview:
This is a new era of mortgage lending than the stated income days of old (old =2005). It wasn’t no-skin-in-the-game borrowers who walked away and created the foreclosure crisis, it was no-skin-in-the-game borrowers who couldn’t afford their escalating mortgage payments who were the problem children of the real estate market. The upfront monetization of the $8,000 tax credit will only be available for FHA loans, which require full documentation of income, impose strict and low debt-to-income ratios and are characterized by low, 30-year fixed interest rates and payments. This is not a return to the subprime era, when you only needed to be human and alive to get a loan (notwithstanding those few times we saw the deceased and the canine get mortgages).
On careful reading of the few details we do have on this program, it’s clear that it does not, in fact, reduce the amount of down payment funds that need to be deposited by the buyer to get an FHA loan. The $8,000 credit cannot, under current law, be used to meet the minimum 3.5% down payment requirement (although gifts from relatives can). The upfront $8,000 is available for home-buyers to use as extra down payment money (to buy more or lower monthly payments), to pay discount points (reducing their interest rates) or to defray closing costs. That’s it.
This FHA loan program changes the time frame in which First-Time Homebuyers who close escrow by December 1, 2009 will be able to benefit from their tax credit. Frankly, I’d imagine this will mean lots more folks will put the funds into their homes and into making their loans more affordable.
FHA Mortgage Loans Update with New HUD Rules for Lenders
Filed under FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news, Mortgage News, Published Articles · Tagged: FHA loan program, FHA loans, FHA mortgage, FHA mortgage lenders, FHA underwriting, HUD
Check Mortgagee Letter 2009-12, a note from HUD explaining how FHA mortgage loans are to be originated and administered. In most cases these FHA letters have little content, but this one is a gem. Clearly HUD is concerned about FHA loan defaults, foreclosures and bad mortgages on the public books.
HUD believes that many FHA mortgage lenders have not lived up to the ethic codes and high standards required with FHA underwriting guidelines. That has become a problem because FHA loans that do not meet FHA mortgage lending standards to the letter are likely to be the very loans which cause FHA losses. In an effort to eliminate this growing concern, HUD says that it “continues to introduce proactive measures to appropriately manage its risk. Recently, FHA reactivated its Special Work Assessment Teams to conduct single-focus on-site reviews of lenders whose originations are exhibiting signs of distress.”
Many insiders, like FHA Mortgage Guide, believe that HUD will be auditing FHA mortgage lenders to make sure these finance companies are originating FHA loans effectively with HUD’s government standards. HUD also said that it “must hold mortgagees accountable for their lending practices in order to protect the public trust and the FHA Insurance Fund.
The Department expects each mortgagee to exercise the same level of care in originating, underwriting and servicing an FHA-insured mortgage as it would for a loan in which the mortgagee would be entirely dependent on the property as security to protect its investment. When a mortgagee fails to comply with HUD’s policies and procedures, HUD will take the appropriate action. For example, lenders that materially violate FHA loan program statutes, regulations and handbook requirements may be referred to the Mortgagee Review Board for appropriate sanctions, which may include termination of mortgagee approval.”
HUD has made it clear that compliance with their FHA loan programs is essential or they will remove you from their mortgage lending system. How would you define reasonable and allowable lending fees for FHA home loans? Previously HUD had allowed anywhere from 1-2 points per transaction. The way the mortgage crisis has played out, it has become imperative for most mortgage brokers and lending companies to be able to offer FHA mortgages for new home buying and refinance transactions. FHA mortgage rates remains at or below 5% for thirty year fixed rate mortgages, so being FHA-approved is at the top of most marketing lists for mortgage companies because the product remains the cornerstone of lending in 2009 and beyond.
HUD’ Checklist for Originating FHA Mortgage Loans-The lenders must at a minimum meet the following criteria listed below:
ü Reviews all FHA loans with early payment defaults to try and stave off foreclosure.
ü Has a comprehensive quality control plan.
ü Does not engage in fraudulent or false or misrepresentative advertising.
ü Full documentation demonstrating the stability each borrower employment income
ü No “excessive charges and unallowable fees to the borrower”.
FHA Financing Helped in American Recovery & Reinvestment Act
Filed under FHA FAQ, FHA Mortgagee Letters, FHA news, Published Articles · Tagged: FHA loan limits, FHA mortgage, Foreclosure Protection, Home Ownership Tax Credit, mortgage loan modifications
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides additional provisions:
FHA Mortgage Loan Limits – FHA home loan amount limits will be raised to $729,750 for homes in high-cost areas. Areas with higher-valued homes will enjoy the many benefits of a FHA mortgage, such as low rates and easier qualification standards. The bill reinstates 2008 FHA loan limits, with a maximum cap of $729,750. The bill also provides the option, if warranted, to increase loan limits for any “sub-area”, i.e.an area smaller than a county. These limits will expire December 31, 2009.
Home Ownership Tax Credit – A non-refundable tax credit of up to $8,000 will be available for buyers who purchase a home this year–before December 1, 2009–and who have not bought a house in the previous 3 years. This tax credit amount is based on 10-percent of the home’s purchase price, up to $8,000. To qualify, homeowners must keep their home for at least 3 years.
Simplified Mortgage Refinancing – Borrowers with less than a 20% equity stake in a traditional loan guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (commonly referred to as “conforming” loans) may now refinance to up to 95% of their home’s market value without purchasing private mortgage insurance, which typically can increase monthly payments by hundreds of dollars.
Neighborhood Stabilization – $2 billion in additional funding is also made available to create the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to address the problems facing whole neighborhoods that are decimated by foreclosures. Funds can be used to purchase, manage, repair and resell foreclosed and abandoned properties. States and localities can also use these funds to establish home financing methods for purchasing and redeveloping foreclosed properties.
Reverse Mortgages – Mortgage loan limits on Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) – or “reverse mortgage” loans will increase to $625,500 until the end of 2009. Current limits, which mirror conforming loan limits, will be raised to open up reverse mortgage options for many seniors who may want to rely on home equity as a stable source of income.
Low Income Housing – States will receive financing for construction and rehabilitation of low-income housing.
Rural Housing Programs – 100% home financing will be made available for rural housing loan programs.
Energy Efficiency Benefits – Tax credits for energy-efficient upgrades will be extended through 2010.
Foreclosure Protection – $75 billion program will be established to subsidize mortgage loan modifications for participating mortgage lenders to assist many distressed homeowners facing foreclosure.
“FHA mortgage rates are still at historically low levels and this is still a great time to refinance,” says Isaacs. “However, there has been much talk that banks and lenders will make it harder for borrowers to qualify for loans for both new and refinanced home loans, especially for borrowers with less than perfect credit scores. I urge people considering a new home loan, mortgage refinancing of an existing loan or a loan modification to move quickly to lock in their best loan rate and options.”
FHA Revises Policy for Loans and Rental Properties
In a recent FHA Mortgagee Letter, the Federal Housing Administration makes moves to quickly curb a dishonest trend arising in the housing mortgage market that poses a risk to FHA, FHA-mortgage lenders and consequently to FHA’s ability to provide home financing to new homeowners. Recently, FHA and others in the mortgage industry have observed an increasing number of homeowners who have chosen to vacate their existing principal residence and purchase a new residence. This has been occurring as some homeowners, given the rising price of fuel, are relocating to homes nearer their employment, or are taking advantage of other real estate opportunities arising in the marketplace.
Due to FHA’s concern that some homebuyers in these transactions may attempt to provide misleading information regarding the rental income of the property being vacated to qualify for the new mortgage, FHA is instituting underwriting guidance designed to assure that the homebuyer can make payments on the full debt service of both mortgages. Consequently, beginning with case number assignments on or after the date of this Mortgagee Letter and until further notice, the underwriting analysis may not consider any rental income from the property being vacated except under circumstances described in this Mortgagee Letter. The exclusion of rental income from property being vacated is being instituted on a temporary basis while FHA further analyzes this situation to determine whether permanent measures may need to be taken. This will assure that a homeowner either has sufficient income to make both mortgage payments without any rental income or has an equity position not likely to result in defaulting on the mortgage on the property being vacated. In either case, this guidance is directed to preventing the practice known as “buy and bail” where the homebuyer purchases, for example, a more affordable dwelling with the intention to cease making payments on the previous mortgage. Although the property being vacated will not have a mortgage insured by FHA, surrounding properties may and, thus, FHA loan programs may be indirectly negatively affected should that property result in a foreclosure.
Exceptions:
Rental income on the property being vacated, reduced by the appropriate vacancy factor as determined by the jurisdictional FHA Homeownership Center (see http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/ref/sfh2-21u.cfm) may be considered in the underwriting analysis under the following circumstances:
· Relocations: The homebuyer is relocating with a new employer, or being transferred by the current employer to an area not within reasonable and locally recognized commuting distance. A properly executed lease agreement (i.e., a lease signed by the homebuyer and the lessee) of at least one year’s duration after the loan is closed is required. FHA suggests that underwriters also obtain evidence of the security deposit and/or evidence the first month’s rent was paid to the homeowner.
· Sufficient Equity in Vacated Property: The homebuyer has a loan-to-value ratio of 75 percent or less, as determined by either a current (no more than six months old) residential appraisal or by comparing the unpaid principal balance to the original sales price of the property. The appraisal, in addition to using forms Fannie Mae1004/Freddie Mac 70, may be an exterior-only appraisal using form Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac 2055, and for condominium units, form Fannie Mae1075/Freddie Mac 466.
The guidance in this FHA Mortgagee Letter applies solely to a principal residence being vacated in favor of another principal residence. This Mortgagee Letter is not applicable to existing rental properties disclosed on the loan application and confirmed by tax returns (Schedule E of form IRS 1040). It is important to realize that if the property being vacated had a mortgage insured by FHA, eligibility for a second FHA home loans can only occur under the exemptions described in handbook HUD-4155.1 REV-5, paragraph 1-2.
