Last week HUD issued Mortgagee Letter 2009-16 which provides guidance on changes to manufactured housing requirements for new and existing construction were made by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. ML 09-16 addresses the changes that can be implemented immediately. HUD defines a manufacture home as a structure that is transportable in one […]
Category: FHA
Last week the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Mortgagee Review Board took action against more than 120 lenders for violating FHA requirements. Violations range from failure to conduct sufficient quality control, to failure to continue to meet FHA recertification requirements, to falsifying loan documents. "At this time of uncertainty in the mortgage market, […]
Last week, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced his intention to implement the mortgage reforms under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) which are scheduled to take full effect on January 1, 2010. For the first time in more than 30 years, HUD is updating mortgage rules to help consumers […]
Atare Agbamu has been very vocal about the way HUD updated its non-recourse policy with Mortgagee Letter 2008-38 and he follows it up with An Assault on Fairness: Quash Mortgagee Letter 2008-38, part 1. After asking HUD to revoke Mortgagee Letter 2008-38, Agbamu received emails from senior policy employees at HUD and below is a […]
The Obama administration is asking taxpayers to subsidize the Federal Housing Administration’s program for reverse mortgages for the first time. The administration has requested that Congress appropriate $798 million for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), according to budget documents released today.According to the budget documents: The decline in house prices has adversely affected the […]
National Public Radio aired Homeowners Should Examine Reverse Mortgages during its Morning Edition late last week. Wendy Kaufman reports that many people are considering these complex loans to help with everyday expenses. Kaufman talks with one man who isn’t using the reverse mortgage for his own needs, but his 99 year old father who needs […]
Woe looms over the reverse mortgage sector as several states look to crack down just as Fannie Mae has raised its insurance fees and tougher counseling mandates are afoot. “A lot of [reverse] originators feel there is an overall attempt to diminish [this] program,” laments one seasoned observer. On the legislative side, sentiment grows among […]
At the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association meeting last week in Chicago, most people were pretty optimistic about their business for the rest of 2009. HUD’s FHA outlook report mirrors the optimistic outlook by showing that during FY 2009, 85,548 HECM applications have been taken, up 16.1% compared to last year. The report also shows […]
Along with the recent changes to HECM counseling, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to unveil a new counseling protocol next month to help borrowers asses whether a reverse mortgage is the right choice for their financial situation. The new protocol will include stronger assessment tools as well as the creation of […]
Like the family secret no one wants to divulge for fear of embarrassment or worse, participants in the reverse mortgage sector reportedly are playing down the growing problem of seniors who forget, don’t know, or are unable to pay taxes and insurance on their properties. Unlike a forward mortgage, where “T&I” routinely is escrowed – […]
