A few weeks after most lender set a minimum credit score of 580 for FHA loans. FNMA announces revisions to its Automated Underwriting System (Desktop Underwriter) that will include a minimum 580 credit score.
Fannie Mae sets the benchmark for all conventional loans. This is going to raise the bar even further for conventional loans, in […]
The mortgage securities market opened up a little better than yesterday. This should push rates down about 1/8th. We are staying in territory where rates could reverse sharply and head higher, so be careful if you are “waiting for lower rates”.
The FHA 30 Year Fixed is trying to get below 6.0%, its a tough floor […]
The big factor in mortgages rates on Monday, April 7th was the stock market. If you are currently watching mortgage rates and trying to decide when to lock in, you should keep an eye on the stock market. Monday morning the stock market started out strong pushing mortgage rates up, by 1:00 the stock market […]
Mortgage rates ticked up a little this morning due to some volatility in the mortgage bonds market. This may just be “Monday morning” reaction to Fridays drop and the gains the mortgage bond traders are able to take advantage of.
Every time we have hit the low level of rates we saw on Friday we see […]
Many lenders who are jumping into FHA do not understand the implications of FHA neighborhood watch. Neighborhood watch is FHA’s way of monitoring lenders by comparing them to all other FHA Lenders. Many confuse Neighborhood watch with Credit Watch. Neighborhood watch is a system to track lender performance, Credit Watch is the rules and policy that leads […]
HUD released a letter to all lenders on April 1, 2008 announcing circumstances where a second appraisal will be required. We saw a similar move by HUD a few years ago to combat real estate flipping, where certain properties that were being resold too quickly after the last sale required two appraisals.
In this move HUD […]
We ended up last week with mortgage rates moving lower in Friday due to a high number of job losses. As we all know, bad news for the economy is good news for mortgage rates. This is why in many cases when the fed cuts rates mortgage rates actually get worse (the fed cutting rates […]
I get a lot of questions about the maximum debt to income ratios on FHA loans where the borrower is refinancing and saving money and its a manual underwrite. I know that HUD has a formula they use and a maximum debt to income ratio, but they don’t tell anyone what it is.
Based on my experience […]
FHA is one of the best sources for Manufactured Home Loans. There are some additional restrictions added to the property and some inspections, but the LTV and pricing are much better than any alternative.
For a Manufactured Home to be eligible for an FHA loan, the foundation has to be inspected by an engineer licensed in […]
We have been talking about the recent changes in minimum scores on FHA Loans, but there have also been a number of credit score adjustments recently released. They seem to impact FHA loans that fall between 580 and 620. The highest adjustments I have seen are around 1.5%
I have asked a few people at HUD […]