The FHA has issued emergency guidance for handling loan applications in areas affected by the water contamination crisis in Flint, MI, while the VA called for special relief for affected Michigan borrowers. A spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Urban Development said FHA lenders have been seeking guidance on how to handle single-family housing properties with an FHA-insured mortgage that may be affected by the tainted water supply in Genesee County., MI. The FHA’s two-page guidance stated that a property in the affected areas must first meet the agency’s property acceptability standards. Lenders are required to ensure that each property has a continuing adequate supply of clean, safe and potable drinking water. In addition, they must make sure the property is safe to occupy and free of any health or environmental hazard. HUD’s Single Family Policy Handbook ...
Concerned about agency sales of distressed properties to hedge funds and private-equity investors, House Democrats have recommended steps to FHA and the government-sponsored enterprises to improve their nonperforming asset sale programs and protect homeowners and neighborhoods. The measures were outlined in a March 1 letter to both Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt. The FHFA regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both currently under conservatorship. Forty-five House Democrats reiterated their concerns about the way the distressed asset sale programs are structured and the effects they are having in communities where the properties are located. Last month, in a joint letter, two ranking House and Senate Democrats sought information from the ...
The FHA will soon begin implementing system enhancements to the Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal to improve its functionality further and to address user feedback. Use of the EAD portal becomes mandatory on June 27, 2016, when appraisers will begin to submit their appraisals electronically to FHA, reducing the time for processing and closing an FHA-insured loan. The FHA will implement the changes on March 14. First, reference to the six-digit alphanumeric “one-time key” used by a mortgagee’s designated EAD administrator to log into the EAD portal will be changed to “appraisal portal one-time key.” References to the key will be revised throughout the EAD portal screens and system-generated messages. The appraisal portal’s one-time key is generated in FHA Connection and is the last step in the initial EAD login process. In addition, users will be given a ...
The FHA’s Home Equity Reverse Mortgage Information Technology (HERMIT) system will shift to a new vendor-operated host data center beginning March 21, 2016. Reverse Market Insight (RMI), a provider of data, analysis and portfolio valuation services for the reverse mortgage industry, has been tapped to manage, maintain and operate HERMIT. Launched in October 2012, HERMIT is an online, web-based automated system that monitors and tracks the FHA’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolio and automates insurance claim payments. HERMIT will shut down temporarily from 7 p.m., March 16, to 8 a.m., March 21, in order to complete the transition. The FHA said there would be no changes to the system’s functionality during transition to the host data center. User IDs and passwords for accessing HERMIT will remain unchanged. Following HERMIT’s transition to the ...
K&L Gates’ Financial Services Practice Decimated, Partners Bolt for Mayer Brown. K&L Gates’ profitable consumer financial services practice took a major hit after a group of partners and associates joined rival Mayer Brown late last month.Laurence Platt, Phillip Schulman, Steven Kaplan, Melanie Brody and Jonathan Jaffe led the group. Ten other partners from their former firm joined them later. They are Costas Avrakotos, David Beam, Holly Spence Bunting, Krista Cooley, Eric Edwardson, Kristie Kully, Ori Lev, Lauren Bergen Pryor, Stephanie Robinson and David Tallman. The group will be based primarily in Mayer Brown’s Washington, DC, office. Kaplan will join Tom Delaney as a co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement practice. “The decision to move from our previous firm has been ...
According to survey figures from Inside Mortgage Finance, wholesale/broker production accounted for 9.6 percent of fundings in the fourth quarter of 2015...
The decline was largely based on a seasonal slump in purchase-mortgage activity. Looking forward, primary-market indicators point to a solid increase in consumer demand.
RSS