The Department of Housing and Urban Development expects to issue the long-anticipated FHA FY 2013 independent review of the state of the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund on or before the middle of December. The report’s release was delayed due to the three-week government shutdown in October.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued guidance clarifying FHA lenders’ obligation to report voluntarily instances of fraud, misrepresentation and any other material findings in connection with the origination, underwriting and servicing of FHA-insured loans. Compliance experts say the guidance in Mortgagee Letter 2013-41 is a shot across the industry’s bow – a reminder to lenders about existing FHA policy requiring them to self-report fraud and misrepresentation to the FHA. Upon notification, the FHA works with the lender on any potential mitigation actions. In the inaugural issue of Lender Insight in June, the FHA reported ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is considering an industry request to delay the implementation of a proposal requiring FHA lenders to perform a financial assessment of all prospective borrowers of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans. In remarks during the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association’s recent annual meeting in New Orleans, FHA Commissioner Carol Galante said HUD is still studying the comments and will need more time to implement the rule. In September, the FHA published a notice in the Federal Register seeking comment on the financial assessment proposal. The proposal is currently in ...

With the FHA high-cost loan limit set to decline from its current statutory level of $729,750 to $625,500, the same level as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, nobody appears to be pushing for an extension. The temporary maximum loan limit for FHA is set to expire on Dec. 31, unless Congress votes for another extension, which appears unlikely, according to mortgage industry analysts. Neither lawmakers nor the White House have shown support for maintaining the current FHA high-cost loan ceiling. Although no one has conceded that the FHA lending ceiling will go down for certain areas, there has been no effort to ...

Many condominium properties continue to struggle to meet stringent FHA requirements while many condo projects are being denied approval despite the easing of FHA approval requirements in recent years. Panelists at a recent National Association of Realtors conference in New Orleans said condos are often the most affordable homeownership option for first-time homebuyers, single borrowers and senior citizens, especially when purchased with FHA financing. Condominium loans are among the strongest performing loans in the FHA portfolio, they added. However, FHA data show that ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has scheduled its next note sale on Dec. 17, following last month’s withdrawal of $450 million of nonperforming notes from the table after bids came up short of the reserve price. The Dec. 17 whole-loan sale will include Neighborhood Stabilization Outcome (NSOs) single-family loan pools, which will be offered, as in several previous HUD note sales, through a competitive bidding process. The offering consists of 5,000 defaulted purchase single-family mortgage loans totaling $1 billion in unpaid principal balances with representations and warranties. Currently, the FHA is selling loans in ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has provided VA lenders a table for determining the appropriate and maximum cost of legal services for each preferred method for foreclosing in judicial and non-judicial states. Specifically, the table concerns the maximum attorney fees the VA will allow in calculating the payment of loan guaranty claims upon termination of the VA loan. It reflects the amounts the VA has determined to be reasonable and customary for all states, following an annual review of amounts allowed by other government-related home loan programs. Every year, the VA ...

Ginnie Mae home mortgage debt outstanding fell by a whisper in the third quarter of 2013 while FHA servicers reported a slight drop in overall delinquencies and an uptick in the foreclosure rate, according to Inside FHA Lending’s analysis of government-backed servicing data. As of Sept. 30, Ginnie Mae’s single-family servicing was down 0.2 percent from the previous quarter but was up 4.1 percent from the same period last year. Ginnie servicers ended the third quarter with $1.35 trillion in servicing outstanding. Although banks continued to dominate Ginnie servicing, the agency has been concerned with the ... [2 charts]

The sudden, dramatic increase in flood insurance premiums – some by as much as 1,000 percent – are leaving homeowners and prospective homebuyers stunned.

A rough measure of production profitability, the ratio of production income to origination volume, fell from 179 basis points in the second quarter to just 84 bps in the third. Back in the Wonderland of early 2012, this ratio was 203 bps.