FHA Changes On The Horizon
January 20th, 2010 | 
Author: FHA just announced that there will likely be some changes to their requirements for insuring loans in the future. The main ones include an increase in the upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) and a decrease in seller concessions from 6% to 3%.
For those who don’t know what UFMIP is, it is the “downpayment” that a buyer makes on the mortgage insurance when they use an FHA insured loan. Conventional loans have mortgage insurance (MI) for any loan that is greater than 80% of the value of the property being used as collateral. The MI had become somewhat expensive for borrowers with sub-700 credit scores, causing some borrowers to take out 80-20 loans in the past to avoid it. Because of the losses to lenders over the past couple years, there are very few new loans written like this.
FHA charges a premium up front of 1.75% of the loan amount which can be financed into the loan itself and then a monthly charge of 0.55% each month for 5 years or until the loan-to-value automatically reaches 78%, whichever comes last. This premium is set to increase to 2.25%. On a $150,000 loan, the amount borrowed will increase by approximately $750.
Some wonder what has changed from last years First Time Home Buyer tax Credit and 2009’s First Time Home Buyer tax Credit. Well now you can review them Side By Side.
Posted by Great Northwest Indiana Associates of Realtors GNIAR here is a side by side look at what the differences are. Take a look.
Gina Bombin, NWI Real Estate Pro
WASHINGTON, February 02, 2009
Allowing large national banks to enter into real estate brokerage and property management could be devastating to the safety and security of the nation’s economy, which is why the National Association of Realtors® has been calling for legislation that would permanently ban banks from entering into real estate transactions.
“We thank Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., for their leadership in introducing legislation to prevent big banks from expanding their business to act as real estate brokers and managers,” said NAR President Charles McMillan.
During the introduction of the Community Choice in Real Estate Act on Friday, Sen. Boxer said, “Permitting banks to engage in commerce could compromise their lending decisions and create conflicts of interest while restricting consumer choice and competition among mortgage lenders.”
Some national banks had petitioned the federal government for the power to own and operate local real estate brokerage or property management companies. Since 2003 language has been included in annual appropriations bills to temporarily block implementation of these actions. The Community Choice in Real Estate Act would make the prohibition permanent.
“Imagine how much worse the crisis in the financial sector and our overall economy would be if banks had been permitted to enter into commercial activities such as real estate,” McMillan said. “We hope that Congress will work quickly to close any loopholes and pass laws that maintain the separation of banking and real estate and protect our nation’s economy from unnecessary and avoidable risks.”
For more info on this and how you can get involved visit Realtor.org
Gina Bombin, NWI Real Estate Professional
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