FHA to Automate Its User Identification Assignment Process. The FHA Connection (FHAC) system has automated its Application Coordinator User ID assignment process. As of Nov. 9, FHA no longer mails paper documentation to a mortgagee’s chief executive officer when a new user ID has been assigned to one of its employees. Notifications will be emailed to the mortgagee’s administrative contact assigned in FHA’s Lender Electronic Assessment portal system. The contact should verify the information in the LEAP system before Nov. 9 and update it as needed. Also beginning Nov. 9, FHA will discontinue mailing to approved appraisers paper-based notifications of the issuance of FHAC user IDs. Notices will be sent by email to the appraisers’ email addresses, which are on file in FHAC. HUD Announces Disaster Assistance for CA Wildfire Victims. The Department of Housing and Urban Development said ...
A new poll being conducted by Inside Mortgage Finance/IMFnews shows that 47 percent of lenders are contemplating originating non-QM mortgages in 2019...
VA mortgage originations fell significantly in the third quarter of 2018 due to a decline in purchase loans and a sharp drop in refinancing from the previous quarter. Rising interest rates and regulatory restrictions were mostly to blame, said lenders. VA production during the third quarter was $40.2 billion, down 21.0 percent from the quarter ago. Volume in the first nine months of 2018 dropped a mere 0.7 percent from the same time period last year. Purchase loans, which comprised 75.3 percent of VA’s guaranty business, were down 12.6 percent. On the other hand, year-over-year production increased 14.0 percent. VA refinance was down 39.0 percent from the second quarter and 18.1 percent on a year-to-date basis. The decline was fueled primarily by an 80.8 percent drop in VA streamline refis or Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loans from the second quarter. IRRRL endorsements in the third quarter ... [Charts]