By Ryan Fitzgerald Given the large financial requirement of buying a home, it’s often out of reach for a large portion of the U.S. population. The economic recession, which was triggered by the collapse of real estate and mortgage lending markets, further decreased home buying accessibility. A number of lenders have returned to the 20 percent down requirement when purchasing …
The Additional Expenses of Buying a HUD Foreclosure
By Lynn Minnick Although I’ve been in real estate for 10 years now, I just closed on my first HUD foreclosure. We haven’t had that many in my market (yet!) and so far I’ve somehow managed to avoid them. I almost fell out of my chair at the closing when the HUD attorney handed me a survey to complete regarding …
HUD Seeks Public Comment: This Means You
By Nobu Hata The skinny: The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking public commentary through Aug. 14 on three “measures” that “reduce financial risk and preserve affordable mortgage financing for responsible consumers.” The measures: 1. Update the combination of credit and down payment requirements for new borrowers. New borrowers seeking FHA-insured financing will be required to have a …
Time to Brush Up on the Fees and GFEs
By Nobu Hata With the down market and the inevitable mass exodus of “those” loan officers, you’d think we could rest easy knowing that the loan officers left would be – for lack of a better word – decent. Holy Hannah, would we be wrong. In the last couple weeks, I’ve had various buyers shop their loan around, including those …
FHA Condo Financing & Stunting Real Estate Recovery
By Laura Rubinchuk When I heard about the new FHA DELRAP/HRAP guidelines for condo financing, my gut reaction was, “Well, I might as well go find another job.” Some of the subjective guidelines for the new approval process will greatly affect my market: -Proximity to a noise (i.e. busy streets, highways) -Proximity to a gas station -Percentage of commercial space …