VA lenders are offering a new mortgage product to help veterans purchase and renovate their homes or make necessary repairs through the refinance of an existing home. The VA renovation or rehabilitation loan program allows borrowers to purchase a home with a traditional VA loan and fund up to $35,000 in repairs and improvements. “This product is great for homebuyers looking for fixer-uppers,” said Patti White, president of Military Mortgage in Avon, CT. VA officials announced the new product during a lender conference in Miami last April and it was on lenders’ menu two weeks later. The VA renovation loan is a second loan much like the FHA 203(k) property repair and rehabilitation loan, according to White. Borrowers may finance up to 100 percent of the as-completed value of the home. Borrowers need a 620 minimum credit score to qualify. The 100 percent financing features reduced ...
One policy issue that could land on FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery’s desk soon is whether potential borrowers who were granted temporary status under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals are eligible for FHA-insured loans. Mortgage lenders are divided on the issue and may soon ask the newly installed head of the FHA for guidance, said Brian Chappelle, a mortgage industry consultant. President Obama created the DACA program in 2012 to allow undocumented immigrant children to stay temporarily in the U.S. for two years without fear of deportation. They have an opportunity to renew their DACA status towards the end of their second year. To qualify for DACA, the undocumented child must have arrived in the country before they were 16 years old or be younger than 31 on June 15, 2012. They must have lived continuously in the country since June 2007. A person protected under DACA is ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service has issued guidance detailing requirements for refinancing its direct and guaranteed rural-housing loans. Direct and guaranteed are both Section 502 loan programs but are different from each other. The lender for guaranteed home loans is a privately owned thrift, bank or mortgage company, which is also the servicer of the loan. The lender for the direct program is the RHS, while USDA Rural Development, which includes RH, is the servicer. Guaranteed borrowers are capped at 115 percent of the area median income while income levels for direct borrowers must not exceed 80 percent of AMI. Guaranteed borrowers are not eligible for payment assistance, which can lower the interest rate on the mortgage to as low as 1 percent. The assistance is for direct borrowers and is based on borrower income as a percentage of AMI. Finally, borrower protections differ ...
FHA FAQ Website Moves to New Platform. The FHA will be shifting its Frequently Asked Questions website to a new platform. Users may experience some changes in functionality, the agency warned. The FHA Resource Center has posted new advanced search tips to help users better navigate the new platform. VA Title Requirements for Conveyance of Real Property. The Department of Veterans Affairs has extended guidance for title requirements for conveying real property to July 1, 2020. The rescission date of the original guidance is July 1, 2018. Reverse Mortgage Lenders Comment on CFPB Consumer Complaint Reporting. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association questioned the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s legal authority to publish unredacted consumer complaints. In a comment letter, the industry group said that while complaint data in some format may be ...
Ginnie Mae continued to lead the growth in agency single-family MBS outstanding during the first quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS analysis. [Includes three data charts.]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency this week unveiled a proposed rule on capital standards for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, acknowledging that the rule would not be imposed on the two government-sponsored enterprises as long as they’re in conservatorship.
With loan production of non-qualified mortgages continuing to gather a head of steam, Wall Street financiers, conduits and warehouse lenders increasingly are taking a keen interest in the sector.
The average daily trading volume in agency MBS climbed to $226.1 billion in May, the second consecutive monthly increase, according to figures compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
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