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A pending mortgage policy change threatens to end zero closing costs mortgages for good. The end of "no fee" mortgages may be here sooner than you think.
First-Time Home Buyers have found out. You don't need a 20% downpayment to purchase a home. There are ample low-downpayment mortgage products available today.
I made a lot of mortgage charts in 2011, covering rates, costs, and new programs. Here is a collection of the best of them.
There is a big advantage to "going FHA" these days -- especially if you're making a low downpayment purchase. FHA mortgage rates are lower than they've ever been as compared to conventional ones, and FHA mortgage insurance rates have yet to rise.
FHA loan limits now exceed conventional loan limits in some high-cost areas. As of November 18, 2011, the FHA will insure up to $729,750. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac cap at $625,500.
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.
The newspaper is a bad place to research for mortgage rates -- conforming, FHA, USDA or otherwise. The rates are "not real" and based on lofty assumptions.
The USDA mortgage program has new guidelines for buyers to follow. Review the changes 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.
The FHA is changing its mortgage insurance policies October 4, 2010, and the Refi Boom is finally showing signs of its end. In this 150-second video, we talk about it all.
I gave a television interview with Beejal Patel of First Business this week and we covered a lot of ground topics like housing, mortgage rates, and the FHA.
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.
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.
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".
