FHA Mortgage Lending » refinance

FHA Mortgage Loans Introduced to Stimulate Markets as Housing Recovery Faces Challenges

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:46:10 +0000

A recent rise in mortgage rates and rising foreclosures and job losses are just a few of the challenges standing in the way of a lasting recovery, economists say. New FHA loan programs have helped struggling homeowners qualify for mortgage refinancing. In addition FHA announced new financing incentive for 1^st time homebuyers with attractive incentives to finance a new home. HUD created these new FHA mortgage lending programs in an effort to stimulate the real estate market that has been sluggish nationwide for several years. With the economy ailing, affordability remains the primary concerns for most Americans considering financing a home.

The US residential real estate market is caught in the worst correction in decades with few reasons to be optimistic as the economy worsens, according to a key housing report released Monday. “Despite unprecedented federal efforts to stimulate the economy and help homeowners make current mortgage payments, house prices continued to fall and home foreclosures continued to mount in most areas through the 1^st quarter of 2009,” according to the executive summary of the State of the Nation’s Housing annual report released by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “While new and existing home sales and single-family starts have shown some signs of stabilizing, ongoing job losses, house price deflation and tighter mortgage underwriting and credit are placing any recovery at risk,” the report said.

“Although there are some signs of improvement or at least steadiness in new construction and sales, housing starts stand near 60-plus year lows, and any life in home sales is coming from distressed foreclosure sales, temporary 1^st -time buyer tax credits and low mortgage interest rates for purchase and refinance that moved higher in recent weeks,” said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard’s Joint Center, in a press release. “The best that can be said of the market is that house price corrections and steep cuts in housing production are creating the conditions that will lead to an eventual recovery,” added Eric Belsky, executive director of the Joint Center. “For now, markets remain under considerable stress,” Belsky said.

The bleak study coincided with a separate report from the World Bank warning of more damage in the global economy. This week, investors will be focusing on housing data and any commentary the Federal Reserve offers on the economy. “On the economic front, new and existing home sales should show improvement but from very low levels,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds. “The recent back-up in FHA mortgage rates, although unwelcome, really should not be enough to prevent pent-up demand and still very good affordability from triggering a housing rebound.” Resource: John Spence, Jeff Moran

FHA Mortgage Rates Low and Jumbo Rates High

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:11:52 +0000

New homebuyers benefit greatly because these FHA mortgage loans maintain low rates and HUD’s flexible credit guidelines ensure that fico scores are not the driving factor for approval like how conventional underwriting guidelines use for approving refinance or purchase loans. FHA mortgages are more aggressive with less equity needed for home refinancing and less needed for depositing with traditional home financing.

CBS News’s Kelly Wallace reports that FHA rates and conforming interest rates have dropped significantly, but jumbo mortgage rates remain high, because lenders don’t want to offer low rate incentives for these high risk mortgages that many borrowers in high cost areas find themselves stuck in.

FHA Mortgage Programs Remain Strong in 2009

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:39:58 +0000

FHA mortgage lending continues to provide more opportunities for new homebuyers and borrowers in need of mortgage refinancing. FHA rates remain very attractive for borrowers who do not have much home equity left. FHA home loans enable borrowers with less than perfect credit qualify for refinance loans. The days of the no money home mortgages that assist homeowners in consolidating high rate debt or cash out second mortgage loans that new homebuyers would have to quickly refinance.

FHA continues to offer great 1^st time homebuyer programs with new home financing requiring only 3.5% down. FHA mortgage brokers and lenders remain optimistic that Hope for Homeowners may help some of their borrowers prevent foreclosure. Home financing guru, Jason Cardiff said, whether it’s FHA or a loan modification, homeowners need to get up and do something to stop foreclosure.” Cardiff continued, “Mortgage lenders continue to provide loan modifications like we’ve never seen before, so contact a lender to refinance or seek counsel from a law firm that has a good track record of mortgage loan modifications with your lending company.” Read the original FHA loan article > FHA Mortgage Rates Creep Up to 5%

VA and FHA Home Loan Share Keeps Rising

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:35:03 +0000

According to FHA mortgage lender Jason Sklar, “Unfortunately, VA and FHA home loans are usually the only options for borrowers seeking a refinance loan.” Sklar continued, “One of the major problems is that there are still millions of homeowners that are seeking refinancing options, but they don’t fit into the government lending boxes.”

The government-insured share of new mortgage loan applications continues to increase compared to conventional home loan applications, according to the weekly application survey of the Mortgage Bankers Association. During the month of October, 33% of home loan applications were for government-insured mortgages, the MBA said. That compares to 10% in October of 2007. The October high water mark for Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loans is the highest government-loan share of the market seen since 1991. The government share hit a low of 6% in August of 2005.