FHA's guideline update: It's no jokeJeff MifsudFannie Mae, Freddie Mac, loan-to-value, downpayment requirements
As the market has continued in its decline lately, I have
watched Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac respond, and I was
waiting for the Federal Housing
Administration (FHA) to do the same. I must say that FHA is
really stepping up to the plate and showing the nation how
important housing is in this country.
If you are at all familiar with international homeownership
rates and have access to financing to acquire real estate, then you
know how fortunate we are to have a government that supports
homeownership! If you aren't familiar with this topic, then I'll
share just a couple of statistics with you. According to a 2005
study published by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm,
Sweden, mortgage terms—specifically loan-to-value (LTV)
ratios—available to homebuyers revealed the following: The
United States had 95 to 98 percent LTVs, though this obviously
doesn't include our sub-prime data; Germany had 70 to 75 percent
LTVs; and France had 70 to 75 percent LTVs.
The fact is that a lot of us wouldn't be homeowners today if we
didn't have access to high LTV loans, which are here because of
FHA. That's it for today's lesson in international real estate.
Now, the FHA guideline update issued through Mortgagee Letter
2008-09 starts out by stating:
Recognizing FHA's counter-cyclical role in the mortgage
market, and its ability to help stabilize declining housing
markets, FHA is not at this time establishing higher downpayment
requirements or borrower credit bureau score thresholds for
properties located in declining areas. However, to mitigate risk to
the FHA insurance fund as well as FHA borrowers, FHA will require a
second appraisal for higher balance loans secured by properties in
declining markets as indicated on the appraisal report or
determined by the lender using other sources.
The update focuses on two things: Second appraisal requirements
and limited cash out requirements for loan amounts that exceed
$417,000. Here are the pertinent details:
•A second appraisal is required only when all three of
these factors exist:
∇The loan amount exceeds $417,000;
◊The LTV, excluding upfront mortgage insurance premiums,
equals or exceeds 95 percent; and
◊The property is determined as being in a declining
market.
•A declining market is defined by:
◊The appraiser. The appraiser is required to indicate if the
property is located in a declining area, both in the neighborhood
section and in the housing trend section of the appraisal, and/or
must determine if there is an over-supply of properties.
◊The lender. The lender may determine that the property is
located in a declining market area. This may be done through
services such as the S&P/Case-Shiller
Index, Office of Federal Housing
Enterprise Oversight Index, National Association of Realtors
statistics, or an automated underwriting system such as Fannie
Mae's Desktop Underwriter or Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector.
You may be asking: So, who really calls it, the appraiser or the
lender? The answer is both. FHA has been very consistent over the
past several years and has clearly communicated that the lender is
equally responsible for the appraisal. The bottom line is: Don't
pressure your appraiser to bring in the value.
•The second appraisal guidelines are:
◊An FHA appraiser selected by the lender underwriting the
loan must complete the second appraisal;
◊A second case number is not ordered;
◊The fee for the appraisal may be passed onto the borrower as
any other closing cost; and
◊A second appraisal is only for loan amounts that exceed
$417,000.
•If the second appraisal is five percent lower than the
original appraisal, the maximum loan amount is based upon the lower
of the two appraised values.
•The lender must include the second appraisal in the
insurance binder when sent to FHA.
•In line with other agency moves to tighten appraisals up
across the country, FHA states:
◊A lender may not choose an appraiser that has any interest,
direct or indirect, in the property being appraised;
◊A lender may not choose an appraiser that is employed by an
appraisal company that owns, is owned by, is affiliated with, or
has any financial interest in the builder or seller of the
property; and
◊Instances of undue pressure or influence on an appraiser
reported to FHA will result in appropriate disciplinary actions
against the lender involved.
•If the loan amount without the upfront mortgage insurance
premium will exceed $417,000, a cash-out refinance is limited to an
85 percent LTV.
That's the summary for the guideline updates. Now, let me share
some personal thoughts. Although FHA and the agencies have
increased the loan amounts temporarily, it is quite clear that the
lenders are not giving originators incentive to write them because
of the huge price hits. My message to wholesalers is to give the
loans a chance to perform for you. Price these loans well, and
let's get some volume to see how these loans do on the secondary
market. I think the price hits are too steep and overly cautious.
These FHA loan amounts above $417,000 are full doc loans, not the
stated incomes that brought the sub-prime market down. I feel
confident these higher loan amounts will do well on the secondary
market.
Wholesalers: You took the time bomb loans, funded by Wall
Street, and sold them with a vengeance. Wall Street funded these
sub-prime loans for you with the hope of making their real money
after homeowners' interest rates jumped up to 14 or 15 percent.
Obviously, that house of cards folded in on itself. FHA is bending
over backwards to help the housing situation by offering amazing
products, and you have priced them right out of the market. FHA has
been around since 1934, and it offers the opportunity to make real
money with real loans for real people. With FHA, people make
decisions on the loans, not computers. Wholesalers, I urge you to
take another look at the pricing of these loans. In my opinion, the
wholesaler that takes another look will understand and will not
only win a lot of business, but come out ahead of the others.
There are two primary factors that will determine whether the
legislators will vote to make permanent the temporary loan
amounts—the default rates and the performance of these loans
on the secondary market. If we can keep the default rates low and
get good performance on the secondary market, I feel they will vote
to keep the elevated loan amounts in place, given the need for
stabilization in our housing market.
What you're seeing now is a shift back to a closer working
relationship between FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is how
it used to be.
The mortgage industry is going through a "mid-life crisis," but
the way the agencies are working together gives me a lot of
confidence that the secondary market will remain strong and
rebound. The tightening of appraisals is necessary to help gain
back the confidence of the investors who put their money into
mortgage backed securities. This is crucial for our success as
originators; because if we don't have a place to sell loans, we're
out of business!
As in any crisis situation, there is always opportunity, and the
opportunity for you is to become an expert at FHA loans!
Jeff Mifsud founded Mortgage
Seminars LLC in 2004, has been an FHA originator for 12 years,
is a contributor to LoanToolbox.com and is a
former FHA underwriter. Jeff may be reached at (877) 342-9100 or
e-mail
[email protected].
