Federal Housing Commissioner David Stevens has released a letter confirming that the upfront mortgage insurance premiums on FHA insured loans will increase effective on case numbers issued on April 5, 2010 and after. Most FHA transactions will see an increase of 50 basis points to 2.25%. Currently the upfront mortgage insurance premium (which is typically financed–added to the loan) is 1.75% of the loan amount. This was issued in a Mortgagee Letter in late January and is "old news".
His letter also provides notice that other changes that were discussed by HUD earlier (but not included in that mortgagee letter) will be posted in the Federal Register soon and will go into effect this summer.
What will impact most FHA borrowers this summer is the decrease in allowed seller concessions. Currently FHA allows sellers to pay up to 6% of the sales price towards allowable closing costs. In a few months, this will be reduced to 3%.
Also this summer, FHA will require borrowers with a credit score of less than 580 to have a 10% down payment. Most lenders, including Mortgage Master, have a minimum credit score of 620 currently for FHA loans.
Commissioner Stevens also addresses a recent announcement:
FHA has waived the regulation that prohibits the use of FHA financing to purchase properties that are being resold within 90 days of previous acquisition. The waiver of regulation took effect for all sales contracts executed on or after February 1, 2010.
A Mortgagee Letter which will have more details, will follow and there are certain conditions that must be met for a property to be eligible for the property waiver.
As you can see, mortgage guidelines are still very much in a tightening mode. It's hard to say just how long this trend will continue or how long it will last.
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