The House Financial Services Committee this week passed H.R. 3700, the “Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act,” moving forward reform measures that would make it easier for condominium investors to obtain FHA financing. Sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-MO, chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-MO, the bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 44-10. Among other things, the bill would ease FHA’s restrictions on the purchase and sale of condo units. It includes changes to the certification and recertification process, owner/occupancy ratio, commercial space requirements and private transfer fees. Specifically, H.R. 3700 would require the streamlining of the FHA condo recertification process by considering a longer time period before a condo project recertifies. Currently, certification is ...

The VA Home Loan Guaranty program has announced a new percentage that lenders can use in calculating the purchase price of a property securing a terminated loan. The new percentage becomes effective on Dec. 23, 2015. When a veteran borrower defaults on a VA loan, the agency is obligated to pay a guaranty claim to the loan holder. If requirements are satisfied, a foreclosing loan holder also has the option of conveying a foreclosed property to VA. A key component in conveying a property to the VA is the net value of the property to the federal government. Net value, essentially, is the fair market value of the property minus the total cost the agency estimates it would incur in acquiring and disposing of the property. A percentage that VA computes annually represents the costs of acquisition and disposition. The agency refers to this computed percentage as the “cost factor.” VA is continuing ...

HUD-IG Issues Industry Warning Against HECM Refi Scam. The inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued an alert to warn lenders, originators and sponsors about fraudulent appraisals that are being used to inflate reverse loan amounts in order to qualify borrowers for HECM financing. Auditors have reviewed HECM refinances over the last several years and have found indications of fraud in hundreds of HECM loans, the IG said. Specifically, appraised values were inflated by 60 to 100 percent or more above the collateral’s actual market value. FHA Announces Lender Recertification Webinar. The FHA will present an online webinar that will assist FHA lenders with the upcoming lender recertification process. Scheduled for Dec. 15, 2015, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., EST, the webinar will provide details and tips on how FHA lenders can submit an ...

Black Knight Financial also said that despite the reintroduction of Fannie’s and Freddie’s 97 LTV product, the FHA/VA continues to dominate low downpayment lending.

HUD actually offers an appeal process where lenders can ask for a loan limit increase for their county...

The jumbo mortgage business has been a growth market for the past few years but the sector lost a little ground in the third quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. An estimated $117.1 billion of mortgages exceeding the baseline conforming loan limit of $417,000 were originated during the third quarter. That included $85.0 billion of loans that were too big to be securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae, plus another $32.1 billion of agency-eligible jumbo mortgages in high-cost markets. Total jumbo volume was...[Includes three data tables]

Two schools of thought are emerging on Quicken Loans’ legal battle over FHA underwriting claims: Plenty of smaller nonbanks are eager to pick up any volume that the mortgage giant might cede, while others say Quicken should exit the space to teach the government a lesson. Glen Corso, executive director of Community Mortgage Lenders of America, said his members are eager to pick up the slack if Quicken makes good on its threat to pull back from FHA lending. The way things stand...

Fleig said Fannie’s new policy has prompted some questions as industry participants haven’t seen a draft of the subordination agreement seller/servicers will have to sign.

The refinance market was soft as well. The agencies securitized $37.48 billion of refinance loans during November, down 12.3 percent from the previous month.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae produced just $86.69 billion of single-family MBS during November, according to a new Inside MBS & ABS ranking and analysis. Last month’s production was down 19.1 percent from October’s volume and represented the weakest issuance since the agency MBS market started to take off in February of this year. All three agencies saw...[Includes two data tables]