The FHA set a new record for production in the recently completed fiscal year, but volume declines in recent months suggest the program may have passed its peak. FY2009, which ended Sept. 30, saw lenders do $360.3 billion in FHA-insured originations, a 78.6 percent jump from the $201.7 billion in fiscal 2008. The final three months of the fiscal year set a single-quarter record with $104.2 billion in...
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The Department of Housing and Urban Developed released its long-awaited comprehensive guidance to the new and improved HOPE for Homeowners refinance program but the industry isn’t expecting much out of an initiative that has failed to gain any traction in the past year. The Office of Management and Budget took three months to review program changes last drafted by the Department of Housing and Urban...
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Preliminary indications suggest the FHA’s iteration of the Obama administration loan modification program has seen modest success in its first months. The Department of Housing and Urban Development updated its claim reporting system to accommodate the new mod option, but data won’t be available until early next year. FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens last week was quoted as saying the FHA Home Affordable...
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development is trying to bar New York-based Lend America from making FHA loans, citing 12 separate violations for which the agency will seek sanctions. HUD, with help from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, sought a temporary civil injunction against Lend America, which legally is called Ideal Mortgage Bankers, to prevent it from originating any...
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Technology venders and other companies in various sectors of the mortgage market have waxed up their surfboards and are riding the massive wave of FHA lending, a market that has long been mired in the backwaters of innovation. San Diego software company Avista Solutions announced that its automated underwriting system has been fully interfaced with the FHA’s TOTAL Scorecard, which allows FHA...
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development reminded lenders that although sub-servicers are neither specifically identified nor tracked in any FHA system, servicing of FHA loans must be performed pursuant to FHA regulations. “The recent mortgage crisis, and the administration’s response to this crisis, has increased the demand for loss mitigation services,” the letter said. “In many instances the need...
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Major changes to the way the FHA insures condominiums are coming in the next few months, and many industry participants are worried that stricter regulations could make it much harder for borrowers to get FHA-insured condo loans. The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the tightening measures this summer, but the scheduled Oct. 1 implementation date has been pushed back twice...
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