Overall denial rates for nonconventional loan applications (FHA, VA and Rural Housing Service) fell slightly in 2016 to 13.4 percent from 13.9 percent in 2015, Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data showed. In the nonconventional refinancing segment, denial rates rose to 32.9 percent last year from 30.3 percent in the previous year. Approximately 23.9 percent of FHA loan applicants were denied last year while VA turned down 20.0 percent of borrowers who sought a VA loan. An estimated 14.3 percent of FHA purchase-loan applicants were turned down. VA denied 11.4 percent of its purchase-mortgage applicants although its total purchase-loan applications are far fewer compared to FHA. According to the Federal Reserve’s overview of the 2016 HMDA data, as in past years, blacks, Hispanics and “other minority” borrowers had notably higher denial rates overall compared to white borrowers. Denial rates for ...
A new “fixer-upper” affordable housing program developed by a real estate broker for the Land Bank of Kansas City, MO, may not only help lower-income borrowers purchase a home but prove to be a profitable niche for FHA 203(k) lenders. The KC Land Bank initiative extends affordable mortgage loans to homebuyers looking to purchase and rehabilitate abandoned vacant homes in 21 neighborhoods in Kansas City. The vacant residential properties are acquired through a tax foreclosure auction and the aim is to sell them to borrowers in the same neighborhood where the property is located. Financing for the purchase and rehabilitation of a Land Bank home is mostly through the FHA 203(k) program, according to Ted Ihde, a licensed real-estate broker who developed the program and markets the homes through neighborhood housing groups. The program addresses an urban problem that ...
The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs have taken additional steps to provide relief to homeowners in disaster areas hit by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. This week, the FHA issued policy waivers in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico and fire-stricken counties in California, allowing damage inspections to be completed beginning Oct. 24. FHA currently requires servicers to perform a damage inspection following the close of an “incident period” as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An incident period is the period For mortgages in disaster areas that have not closed or are pending endorsement, lenders must follow FHA’s guidelines on inspection and repair escrow requirements for loans in such areas. FHA believes that situations in certain jurisdictions in Puerto Rico and California have stabilized and further damage to ...
Legislation was introduced this week to repeal the FHA’s life-of-loan requirement and reinstate a previous policy of requiring borrowers to pay premiums until the outstanding principal balance reaches 78 percent of the original home value. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced the Making FHA More Affordable Act so that families would not have to keep paying mortgage insurance premiums for the life of their FHA-insured loan. Up until June 3, 2013, FHA was aligned with the private mortgage insurance industry in charging premiums only until the outstanding principal balance reached 78 percent of the original home value. The FHA first announced its intention to require life-of-loan premium payments in January 2013, allowing the agency to collect more premium revenue to bolster its ailing Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. FHA’s life-of-loan policy ...
CoreLogic to Provide Solutions to Cut FHA, MMIF Losses. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has chosen CoreLogic to provide valuation and workflow solutions to mitigate losses to the FHA and the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund. Under an agreement with HUD, CoreLogic will provide support to determine the best strategies and plans for the valuation and disposition of distressed and real estate-owned properties in HUD’s inventory. Individual Condominium Loan Processing in the VA’s WebLGY System. The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued guidelines to address issues that have arisen since making changes to its web-based loan guaranty system, WebLGY, earlier this month in regards to condominium identification. System changes included removal of the fields where users would input condo IDs when ordering a VA loan identification number (LINs)/appraisal ...
Some history: When GMAC imploded earlier in the decade, some of its GSE servicing rights were sold to Ocwen. Ocwen eventually sold those contracts to Nationstar.
The bulk market for mortgage servicing packages is revving up once again as October draws to a close and deal makers try to wrap up transactions before yearend, allowing clients to book income. “I would say that right now the market is pretty good,” said one investment banker. “Pricing is firm, but not as good as it was earlier in the year. Still, it’s the best it’s been in a few months.” Part of the reason for that strength is rising interest rates. As the week draws to a close, the yield on ...
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