The dramatic boom in FHA mortgage lending throughout 2008 resulted largely from the deteriorating financial condition of the private mortgage insurance companies who first the first time in decades now see the FHA as a major competitor. The FHA accounted for a record 69.0 percent of new primary mortgage insurance written during the fourth quarter of 2008, the program’s highest market share since...
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The Obama administration’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan features an aggressive loan modification program that would be broadly implemented across all sectors of the conventional mortgage market, but officials also want additional legislative help to make loan modifications more viable for distressed FHA mortgages. The FHA currently doesn’t do... [Includes one graph]
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This year and next are expected to be an opportune period for FHA lending, if you can safely keep up. More than 1.4 million owner-occupied FHA purchase loans are expected in 2009, for a total origination volume of $246 billion, according to iEmergent, a Des Moines, IA-based market research, forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate...
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The House of Representatives this week began deliberations on a legislative package that includes improvements to the HOPE for Homeowners program and an effort to protect FHA and VA lending under an emerging bankruptcy cramdown scheme. The Obama administration has already signaled support for both concepts by including them in its Housing Affordability and Stability...
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week formally restored the higher FHA loan limits that had been effect in 2008. The stimulus package signed into law this month by President Obama, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, restores last year’s top conforming loan limit, $729,750, for FHA, Fannie and Freddie loans. The higher loan limits...
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a warning to approved housing counseling agencies against accepting fees from third parties to pay for homeowners’ foreclosure counseling. The warning was prompted by reports that some HUD-approved housing counseling agencies have been asking the real estate broker or agent on a short sale to provide their agency a part of the broker...
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A jump in refinance transactions helped push FHA originations higher in January, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside FHA Lending. A total of $24.01 billion of FHA loans were originated last month, not including home-equity conversion mortgages, up 5.1 percent from December. The number of FHA refinance loan endorsements rose... [Includes one chart]
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