Federal Housing Administration | All Home Loan Info

Mar
2

Looking For A Home Loan? Take Your Pick From Fha And Privately Funded Loans

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If you are looking for a way to fund your purchase of a home, getting a mortgage loan is your best bet. Otherwise, you need to shell out thousands of dollars in cash. Fortunately, you do have plenty of options when it comes to home loans – just make sure to pick the right one by weighing the pros and cons of each.

Applying for Home Loans: The Basics

Aside from the huge costs involved in paying for a house in full, there are additional financial benefits that you will get to enjoy by applying for a home loan or a mortgage loan. With it, you can use your money wisely in such a way that you can utilize your instant cash for other purposes. Although you have incurred a debt, you can manage your finances in such a way that there will be enough funds left to fulfil your other needs after you have paid for your monthly mortgage premiums.

Keep in mind, however, that there are different kinds of mortgage loans that you can take advantage of – which is offered by a variety of financial institutions. Just like any other financial product that you can take advantage of, it is a must for you to make a comparison of the fees and closing costs involved in a particular loan – otherwise you’ll be paying more than you have to.

FHA Loans versus Conventional Home Loans

Now that you already have an idea about the basics of applying for a home loan, how can you decide which loan to take advantage of? Basically, you can take your pick from federal government-backed loans and private loans. An example of the first type is the home loan offered by the Federal Housing Administration. Read on to find out how one compares with the other:

1. FHA loans are suited for Americans who are under the lower income bracket while private loans do not have such qualifications.
The reason why FHA loans are offered in the first place is that its goals is to make the average American family able to purchase a home which they cannot afford otherwise, thus the lower income bracket requirement. With private loans, there is no such stipulation – but the interest rate will be more or less based on what your credit rating is.

2. FHA loans have a lower upfront down payment as compared to conventional loans.
The minimum down payment that you need to make for FHA loans is 3.5%, while conventional loans require at least 20% down payment.

3. FHA closing costs are lower as compared to conventional loans.
When you apply for an FHA loan, the closing costs are controlled by the Housing and Urban Development regulations. If you do not qualify for an FHA loan, make sure to ask the lender upfront about the closing costs so there will be no surprises later on.

4. With FHA loans, underwriting is not as strict as with private loans.
FHA loans can be given to a borrower as long as he or she can afford it, and the house will be used as primary residence. Unlike private lenders, FHA is more concerned about your ability to repay rather than measuring your credit worthiness.

5. Other differences between FHA and private loans.
As compared to conventional loans, the income requirement of FHA loans is lower. The mortgage insurance is also lower as compared to private loans. Also, should you decide to pay your FHA loan in advance, there will be no penalties.

Based from the above list, it is easy to conclude that the FHA loans have terms which are more advantageous to borrowers. If you don’t qualify for this loan, however, there are plenty of private home loan options that you can consider – just make sure that the terms of the loan will work more in your favor.

Rob K. Blake, mortgage expert and author, educates mortgage shoppers on finding local providers by state like Arkansas Mortgage Brokers and Lenders and provides reviews of national companies like Aegis Mortgage.

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Dec
15

FHA home loans help Florida homebuyers with 97% Financing

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mortgages

FHA home loans help Florida homebuyers with 97% Financing

The Federal Housing Administration, generally known as “FHA”, is the largest government insurer of FHA home loans in the world. A part of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), FHA provides FHA mortgage insurance on single-family, multifamily, manufactured homes made by private FHA-approved mortgage lenders throughout. While FHA mortgage applicants must meet certain requirements established by FHA to qualify for the insurance, FHA lenders bear less risk because FHA will pay the lender if a mortgage applicant defaults on his or her FHA home loan. FHA has insured over 37 million FHA mortgages and 47,205 multifamily project mortgages since 1934. Currently, FHA has 5.2 million insured single-family FHA home loans and 13,000 insured multifamily projects in its portfolio. Clearly, the FHA mortgage provides a huge economic boost to the country in the form of home and community development, particularly in today’s challenging financial climate.

We offer 97% financing in all of Florida with a 530 Minimum FICO, Most banks and other lenders now require a 620.

FHA loan Advantages Include:

Minimal Down Payment and Closing Costs.

Down payment less than 3.5% of Sales Price
Gift for down payment and closing costs allowed.
No reserves or required.
FHA regulated closing costs.
Seller can credit up to 6% of sales price towards buyers costs.

Easier Credit Qualifying Guidelines such as:

Minimum FICO credit score of 540.
FHA will allow a home purchase 2 years after a Bankruptcy.
FHA will allow a home purchase 3 years after a Foreclosure.

Easier Debt Ratio & Job Requirement Guidelines such as:

Higher Debt Ratio’s than other home loan programs.
Less than two years on the job is allowed.
Self-Employed individuals o.k.

APPLY NOW AT www.FHAmortgageFHAloan.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/mortgage-articles/fha-home-loans-help-florida-homebuyers-with-97-financing-1581234.html

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Dec
3

Should FHA home loans be more expensive?

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mortgages

Should FHA home loans be more expensive?

The federal FHA mortgage insurer’s reserve fund has slipped below its mandated minimum. Now the FHA and some lawmakers want to raise the minimum requirements-

FHA loan Advantages Include:

Minimal Down Payment and Closing Costs.

Down payment less than 3.5% of Sales Price
Gift for down payment and closing costs allowed.
No reserves or required.
FHA regulated closing costs.
Seller can credit up to 6% of sales price towards buyers costs.

Easier Credit Qualifying Guidelines such as:

Minimum FICO credit score of 540.
FHA will allow a home purchase 2 years after a Bankruptcy.
FHA will allow a home purchase 3 years after a Foreclosure.

Easier Debt Ratio & Job Requirement Guidelines such as:

Higher Debt Ratio’s than other home loan programs.
Less than two years on the job is allowed.
Self-Employed individuals o.k.

www.FHAmortgageFHAloan.com

Should it be more expensive to get a FHA mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration?

That is the question the House Financial Services Committee examined on Wednesday afternoon.

Currently, FHA home loans comprise more than 30% of the entire mortgage loan market. But as some of those FHA insured loans have defaulted, the FHA mortgage loan-guarantee fund has slipped below the Congressionally mandated 2% level. As a result, some lawmakers are suggesting that FHA mortgages need to be more expensive to obtain.

In fact, a House bill, the FHA Taxpayer Protection Act of 2009, would increase the FHA loan minimum down payment required to obtain an FHA loan to 5% from 3.5%. That, sponsor Rep. Scott Garrett, R, N.J., believes, would make FHA mortgage applicants more committed to maintaining their FHA home loans.

Almost 90% of FHA mortgage loans issued between January and August 2009 had FHA Home loan-to-value (LTV) ratios of 96 or higher, according to written testimony from Robert Story, chairman of the FHA Mortgage Bankers Association. That amounts to a very small commitment on the parts of FHA mortgage applicants.

Housing and Urban Development secretary Shaun Donovan’s testimony said he is committed to raising the expense of utilizing FHA mortgage loans, though the agency and is still exploring the best options and doesn’t necessarily support raising the FHA down payment requirement.

“We have made the decision to exercise our authority to increase FHA’s up-front cash requirement that a borrower has to bring to the table in an FHA insured home loan — to make sure that FHA mortgage applicants have more ’skin in the game’ and a stronger equity position in their FHA home loan,” he said.

Still, he added, “FHA is not ‘the next subprime’ as some have suggested.”

He disputed Garrett’s statistics that tried to make the case for increasing down payments. Garrett said that FHA home loans with loan-to-value ratios of 100 were twice as likely to fail as those with LTVs of 95.

Donovan responded that many of those failed 100 LTV loans involved seller-supported down payment programs, which contributed disproportionately to delinquencies. Last year Congress prohibited those FHA mortgage programs.

Donovan outlined three options for raising FHA borrowers’ skin in the game:

Increase the down payment requirement, currently at a minimum of 3.5%;
Raise the up front premium insurance premium from 1.75% to as much as 3%, which the FHA already has the authority to do; and
Decrease the allowable seller concessions for closing costs, which are now 6%, to 3%.

Critics of increasing the up front borrowing costs claim it’s both unnecessary and could imperil the weak housing market recovery.

“While the FHA mortgage program is experiencing shortfalls in its excess reserves due to our economic crisis, The FHA mortgage remains financially strong and a critical part of our nation’s economic recovery,” said Vicki Cox Colder, president of the National Association of Realtors, in her written testimony before the committee.

Besides, she added, “It is important to recognize that this is not FHA’s only reserve fund. FHA also has a Financing Account separate from the Capital Reserve. FHA’s actual total reserves are higher than they have ever been with combined assets of $30.4 billion. This is an increase of 13% over the previous year.”

Donovan acknowledged problems at FHA, including antiquated systems and equipment and inadequate personnel numbers.

“Little of this may have been obvious when FHA’s mortgage market share was 3% as recently as 2006,” he said in his statement. “But when our mortgage markets collapsed last fall, and homebuyers increasingly turned to the FHA home loans for help, the potential consequences of these lapses in risk management became very clear.”

The agency has acted to lower risk over the past several months. It hired a chief risk officer to improve risk assessment; increased enforcement efforts that resulted in suspending some FHA mortgage lenders and withdrawing FHA-approval for many others; and strengthened underwriting, including instituting FHA loan procedures that should improve appraisal accuracy.

“Charging more [for those with lower FICO scores] is not necessarily the answer,” said the HUD secretary. “It could even work against it by making it harder for FHA mortgage applicants to pay off their FHA home loans.”

Besides that, Donovan expressed a real reluctance for the idea of FHA mortgage loans becoming an even bigger player in the FHA mortgage market than it is now. Raising prices for borrowers with low FICO scores and lowering them for those with high scores could put the FHA in direct competition with private FHA mortgage lenders for the lower risk borrowers.

FHA -loan risk has also declined, some industry analysts believe, thanks to the drastic improvement in the quality of borrowers it services. According to Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a publisher of mortgage industry information, their average credit score has jumped to 693 from the low 600s two years ago.

Janis Bowdler, a director for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization, said, “According to the FHA, had loans not been made using seller down payment assistance programs, known for being a haven for fraud and abuse, its capital reserve ratio would still be at the recommended 2%.”

She emphasized how important affordable FHA loans are to the minority community, which accounts for a much larger share of these mortgages than the greater mortgage market.

Ann Schnare, a partner with Empiris, an economic consulting firm and a veteran mortgage industry figure, said she thinks the agency could take a few small steps, like increasing the down payment requirement, to ensure the account’s viability.

“While FHA mortgage are required to put 3.5% down, they are also allowed to finance the up-front premium and a portion of their closing costs,” she said. “The net result is that many FHA borrowers are in a zero or even negative equity position the moment they move into their homes. This dramatically increases the risk of foreclosure, particularly in a bad economic environment and a weak or declining housing market.”

She also recommends an slight increase in monthly insurance premiums to build up the reserve fund.

Donovan said stepped up enforcement itself could help restore the Capital Reserve Account. Most of the projected losses over the next five years, 71%, will come from loans already on the books. Many of those loans were of poor quality due to negligence on the part of lenders.

He wants to go after those lenders to make them responsible for the losses the FHA suffered.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/mortgage-articles/should-fha-home-loans-be-more-expensive-1534037.html

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Looking For A Home Loan? Take Your Pick From Fha And Privately Funded Loans

FHA home loans help Florida homebuyers with 97% Financing

Should FHA home loans be more expensive?