Fair housing advocates are outraged over the Department of Justice’s recent repeal of mortgage shopping guides and other regulatory guidance, but an industry attorney says it is no big deal. Bent on eliminating agency regulation by guidance, the DOJ last week rescinded 24 guidance documents issued by a variety of government agencies. Among those revoked were guidance that provided information regarding predatory lending, consumer mortgage shopping and discrimination based on national origin. The DOJ action stems from a November 2017 memorandum issued by Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinding guidance that either were issued improperly or were inconsistent with current law. It also complies with a presidential directive to all federal agencies in February to implement and enforce regulatory reform, which called for a review of all existing regulations, policies and guidance for possible repeal ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has removed the FHA inspector roster to streamline inspection requirements for FHA single-family mortgage insurance. Removal of the list of approved inspectors recognizes the quality of inspections performed by certified inspectors and other qualified individuals, said HUD. HUD originally established the roster to standardize the inspection process for properties with FHA-insured mortgages. Prior to the roster, cities and states developed their own building codes, which had little uniformity or consistency with each other. Currently, the department abides by the International Residential Code (IRC), which is in use in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The International Code Council, which developed the IRC, also certifies combination inspectors (CIs) and residential ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service is seeking comment on a proposed rule that would enable more lenders to make combination construction-to-permanent single-family loans to borrowers. The new combination construction-to-permanent loan, or “single close loan,” allows approved lenders to close a new construction loan and receive a loan-note guarantee before construction begins. The loan expands low- and moderate-income borrowers’ access to affordable rural housing financing in areas with populations up to 35,000. The loan may be used to construct and purchase single-family homes, including manufactured homes and eligible condominiums. The amount covers purchasing a lot, reasonable construction administrative costs, contingency reserves, inspection fees, builder’s risk insurance, landscaping costs, and other authorized items, the ...
The spring homebuying season fueled a relatively modest increase in production of Ginnie Mae single-family mortgage-backed securities during the second quarter of 2018, according to a new Inside FHA/VA Lending ranking and analysis. Lenders issued $98.66 billion of Ginnie MBS backed by forward mortgages during the April-May cycle. That was up 6.6 percent from the first three months of the year, but 2018 continued to lag behind the pace set in 2017 by 10.7 percent. Given current trends, annual Ginnie MBS issuance in 2018 could fall short of the $400 billion mark for the first time since 2014. The flow of FHA and VA purchase mortgages was up a solid 23.7 percent from the first to the second quarter, bringing the total for the first half of the year to $121.01 billion. However, that was down 4.7 percent from the same period in 2017. Ginnie securitized $75.02 billion of FHA purchase loans in the ... [Charts]
Collectively, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recorded a modest increase in new single-family business from the first quarter of 2018 to the second, but the bird’s-eye view misses some key details. [Includes three data charts.]
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