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How FHA mortgage insurance works, and how to cancel your monthly MIP requirement. Depending on your loan type, the rules for FHA MIP cancellation vary.
The FHA can take a page from the revamped HARP program, and work to make more homeowners FHA Streamline Refinance-eligible. Here's what the FHA can do.
The FHA Streamline Refinance program eschews "traditional" mortgage verifications of income and credit score but still maintains minimum loan standards for applicants. Read about the FHA Streamline Refinance in an easy-to-follow format.
FHA mortgage insurance rates are increasing. Beat the increase by having your FHA Case Number assigned. All you have to do is give a mortgage application. I'll handle the rest for you.
To lower costs, newspaper editors are replacing beat writers with "article syndication". Syndication can be a good strategy, but it requires care. The syndicated article highlighted here is 11 months -- and 2 FHA guideline changes -- behind-the-times. It's patently incorrect.
For the second time in 4 months, the FHA is changing the way it charges mortgage insurance.
Life as an FHA borrower is getting tougher. In an effort to shore up its flailing balance sheet and dwindling capital reserves, the Federal Housing Authority is rolling out sweeping financial changes. FHA borrowers have to look better on paper and be better credit risks. Mortgage insurance premiums are rising, too.
This is a snippet from page 348 of the Special Topics sub-section in the 2011 Congressional Budget. It recaps the new FHA mortgage insurance guidelines for case numbers assigned after April 5, 2010. It also shows the FHA's request to have authority over its mortgage insurance premiums from Congress. According to the highlighted text, the FHA wants make two changes, pending congressional approval.
Want to refinance on the FHA Streamline Refi program? Better get a move on. Beginning in just 5 days -- November 17, 2009 -- the FHA changes over to new guidelines for its popular FHA-to-FHA refinance program. Getting approved for a Streamline Refi will be more difficult and more expensive.
FHA mortgage rates are lower than conventional mortgage rates right now. It's an interesting development, especially for homeowners and home buyers with low equity. Unless you've got 20 percent into a property, if you're locking a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, there's compelling reasons to go FHA.
With foreclosures proliferating, PMI defaults are up 26 percent over last year and double the levels from 2007. Private mortgage insurers are paying out on many more claims than was expected and, as a result, are booking huge losses. Homeowners are about to pay the price. To shore up balance sheets and protect against future losses, mortgage insurers have raised insurance rates and toughened underwriting guidelines.
The FHA is changing the FHA Streamline Refinance rules. Effective November 17, 2009, getting approved for the popular refinance program will be decidedly more difficult. And make note -- this is not speculation. The FHA titled its official statement dated September 18, 2009 "Revised Streamline Refinance Transactions" and it reads like a warning shot. This is just the first in a series of changes coming from the FHA.
August 4, 2009, the federal government shutdown Taylor, Bean, & Whitaker's FHA lending operations. The shutdown has spawned a lot of questions from affected FHA borrowers. Here's some of the more common ones.
If you've been a loan officer long enough, you start to notice certain trends emerge in mortgage rates, mortgage products, and in the market overall. Here's an easy trend that even the lay can understand: When loan defaults spike, mortgage guidelines get tight. It will never be easier to be approved FHA than it is today. If your homebuying or refinance plans call for a FHA mortgage, consider moving up your time frame.
The FHA is discontinuing its 95% cash-out refinance program effective April 1, 2009. For all case assigmements made on or after April 1, 2009, cash-out refinances are limited to 85%. "Case assignment" is FHA-speak for "registered loans".
The government published the 2009 FHA Loan Limits for all 3,141 counties in the United States. As expected, loan limits will recede from their temporary levels of 2008. As in 2008, the 2009 FHA loan limits are based on the number of units in the property -- from 1-unit to...
The FHA rolled out risk-based mortgage pricing this week, matching steps that Fannie and Freddie took earlier this year. In its press release, the FHA lists some exceptions including 15-year mortgages. Prior to the risk-based changes, FHA home loans were usually accompanied by an easy-to-remember fee schedule of 1.500 percent...
