Change To The Amount of Mortgage Insurance Premium Cost.

One of the biggest announced changes to the FHA Policy is to Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP). Mortgage Insurance Premium will be increased to help build up the capital reserves and bring back private lending. The capital reserves have been depleted because all of the home foreclosures.

The first step of the change will raise the up-front MIP from 1.75% to 2.25% of the loan amount. They are also planning on asking Congress for legislative authority to increase the maximum annual amount of MIP they can charge.

If they get this authority from Congress then the next step will be to shift some of the premium increase to the annual MIP from the up-front MIP. The shift will help the capital reserves to increase without having much impact on the borrower because the annual Mortgage Insurance Premium is paid over the life of the loan instead at closing. This change should go into effect some time in the spring of 2010.

Change To Minimum FICO Credit Scores.

New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will now be required to have a 10% down payment. In reality most lenders are currently requiring at least 620 FICO score to quality for FHA’s 3.5% down payment. This will help FHA to balance its risk and to continue to provide funds to the borrowers that have performed well in the past. This change will be posted in the Federal Register this February and after a required notice and comment period it should go into effect some time in early summer.

There is an exception to the 3.5% down payment required by FHA.  HUD currently has a HUD $100 Down Payment Incentive if you buy a HUD foreclosed home.  You can click here to get more information on this HUD $100 Down Payment Incentive.

Reduction Of The Amount Of Allowable Seller Concessions.

The current allowable a Seller can contribute to Buyer’s closing costs is 6% of the purchase price. This will be changed to just 3% which is in more in line with industry standards on Seller concessions. This change also will be posted in the Federal Register in February and after a required notice and comment period it will probably go in effect in the early summer.

These changes in the FHA Home Loan Guidelines could cost you your chance of getting a low down payment FHA mortgage. But there is still time to beat these changes if you get find a home to purchase and get it under contract by early spring.  You can click here to get more information about FHA Home Loan Guidelines.

FHA Home Loan Program is a great way to finance your new home with a very low down payment of just 3.5% and low credit scores. But things are changing with the FHA Home Loan Guidelines, you need to take action now to find your dream home now!

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FHA Home Loans are loans that the Federal Housing Administration insures. There are a wide variety of lenders that have been approved to offer these loans. It is a good idea to shop around and find out the rates and conditions that a number of these loan providers are willing to offer you since there are no set terms required.

However, these FHA mortgages are available to people with lower down payments and lower credit ratings than conventional mortgages, so it is a good idea to check into them and see whether this type of mortgage would work for you. 

For those who don’t have enough money to make a large down payment, there are a couple different options available.

If you qualify for a conventional mortgage, you can get private mortgage insurance (also known as PMI) that will allow you to still get a conventional mortgage. If you don’t qualify for PMI or a conventional loan, then it is a good idea to look into FHA home loans. With these loans you usually need to be able to put down a down payment of at least 3.5%, but you don’t need as high a credit rating as you would for a conventional mortgage with this low of a down payment.

What can you use FHA Home Loans For?

1.  You can get FHA home loans to purchase one to four family homes.

2.  You can even use them to purchase mobile homes or factory built housing.

3.  If you are purchasing a home that needs to be fixed up, you can get a FHA 203K Loan that will include both the cost of the purchase and the cost of fixing the house.

4.  For those who already own their own home, you can refinance your loan to include the cost of fixing up your home or making it more energy efficient. This makes home ownership a much more reachable goal for many people.

As you can see you can use a FHA Home Loan for about any type of home ownership you want.  And the best advantage is you don’t have to have perfect credit scores.  Most Americans want to own their own home and with the help of FHA Home Loans that dream can come true for most Americans. 

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If you do not have a lot of money to put down on a manufactured home, you can often qualify for a FHA Manufactured Home Loan.  The current FHA down payment amount is just 3.5% of the purchase price.  While down payment for home loans is 20% or more.

It is very difficult to find a lender that will do a traditional conventional loan on a manufactured home.  One of the reasons is that it much easier to move a manufactured home.  The manufactured home will have a steel beam down the middle of the home making it easier to relocate.  This increases the risk for the lender.

If you are a new home buyer and you are looking at a manufactured home, you will want to keep your monthly payments as low as possible.  This is the reason manufactured homes are popular, they are less expensive to buy.  Now you have to find a loan program to finance the purchase. You may want to apply for a FHA Manufactured Home Loan.  

If you do not have the best or perfect credit, or are worried about even qualifying for a home loan, chances are now you can qualify for a FHA Manufactured Home Loan now. With the economy as it is now, although it is improving, some manufactured new home owners and buyers may often worry about what will happen to them or their homes if they fall behind on their payments on their homes.

With a FHA Manufactured Home Loan many of the worries about falling behind on their payments, qualifying for a loan if they do not have the best credit, or any of the usual concerns for first time home buyers are gone. More and more people qualify for FHA Home Loans each day. Getting a home loan for a manufactured home is much easier, faster, and often you qualify much easier and faster with more protection than with other home loans.

You will find that with FHA Home Loans there are lower rates. If you have less than perfect credit you can also still get a FHA loan. There are much more protections for your home with an FHA Manufactured Home Loan than you will find with other home loans.

There are also many types of FHA Manufactured Home Loans as well. You can get a fixed rate loan, adjustable rate home loans, and you can even get a FHA 203K Mortgage to purchase a rehab home. This means that you have found a house you like, but it needs fixing up or repairs. There are even special FHA Loans for these types of homes as well.

With lower down payment and lower credit requirements, the FHA Manufactured Home Loan is not only the best loan program but it may be your only choice to finance your manufactured home purchase.  It is great loan program and you should contact a FHA lender now to get more information.

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This is not to say that the you are borrowing money from the government nor is it to say that by applying for a FHA home loan you will automatically be approved, but it is to say that you are more likely to approved for a FHA home loan than a conventional loan if you have average or below average credit, including a bankruptcy, and less than 20% for a down payment, currently the down payment requirement is 3.5% — which is considerably lower.

Now that we understand the basics of a FHA home loan, it is time to introduce the fact that in addition to the standard FHA loan offered, there are many other FHA loan programs that home buyers may wish to take advantage of including the traditional 30 year fixed rate mortgage, standard 15 and 20 year mortgages and even any manner of adjustable rate mortgages as well, you can even get qualified for refinancing or taking out the home equity via a home equity loan through FHA programs as well.

It seems, though, that one of the most popular FHA loan programs that are offered is the FHA 203k loan. These loans carry the standard features of traditional FHA loans — flexible credit, assumable loans, and low down payment to name a few — but goes a step further by making it easy to rehabilitate a home all in one loan packaged together.

Using an FHA 203k loan can help people who need to renovate their current homes by securing financing to do so or home buyers can use these loans to purchase and rehab a preexisting home elsewhere.

This can benefit everyone involved from the community by making surrounding areas nicer for all citizens, to the home owners themselves by allowing them to purchase what could be their dream home and providing the funds to make their dream a reality. All of that and under one loan package, in today’s unstable housing market, taking advantage of FHA programs is definitely the way to go.

With the glut of foreclosures on the market including HUD homes for sale which some of them requires repairs, the FHA 203K Loan may be the answer to purchasing your dream home at a bargain price!

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As the status of FHA Loan Modification at the time of the writing of this article the program has some major drawbacks.  The FHA Loan Modification Program has more strident requirements than for other loan modification programs.

The author of this article will discuss some of the drawbacks of the FHA Loan Modification Program.

 Homeowners Under Fha Loans Have A Long Road To Effective Loan Modification

If your mortgage is under an FHA loan, there may be FHA loan modification options open to you. Many homeowners who are uninformed but on the road to foreclosure fear that FHA home loans are ineligible for modification, but under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act passed in 2008, FHA lenders were given the permission and funding to accommodate loan modification.

FHA loan modification stretches the mortgage through up to a thirty year period with a lower, fixed interest rate to make it possible for millions of homeowners to keep their homes.

In order to be eligible for an FHA loan modification, under the Streamlined Modification Program, a homeowner must:

– Be at least three or more months behind on their mortgage payments.

- Not be in bankruptcy.
– Reside in the residence they want the FHA loan modification to cover.

Also, the mortgage must have been taken out prior to January 1, 2008 and the current value of the property must be no less than 90% the initial value.

An FHA loan modification entails: extending the loan for as long as appropriate with the new interest rate, reducing the interest rate to a minimum of 3 percent (if appropriate), and a balloon payment when the loan is paid off, matures, or goes through refinancing.

Loan modification seems to be the answer for millions of homeowners who are on the verge of losing their homes to foreclosure, whether their mortgages are through FHA or other lenders. However, as it stands now homeowners under FHA loans are finding it exceedingly difficult to get loan modifications and steps are being taken to make it easier for everyone to receive loan modification assistance.

Because the FHA loan modification standards under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act are ridiculously strict, the Obama Administration is currently pushing to allow FHA loans to meet other loans’ standards under the Home Affordable Modification Program. Many homeowners, under FHA mortgages or otherwise, are living on property which has fallen far below 90 percent of initial purchase value. There are even properties which have fallen to or below 50 percent of their previous value — quite a far cry from 90 percent.

The FHA loan modification program under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act has fallen flat on its face since its launch in October, helping only handfuls of families across the country. No progress towards recovery for the housing market can be made unless loan modification is made more accessible for those who have property covered by FHA loans.

If you are a homeowner covered by a FHA home loan and your property value has plummeted like the rest of America’s, hold on tight. It’s going to be a long and bumpy ride for you to recovery

By: Walter Sigmore

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

 For more information about home loan modifications, visit the #1 loans modification resource on the net: HomeLoanModifications101.com

Here is another great article about "FHA Loan Modification – Information You Need To Know!"

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If you are considering buying a home, one of the first decision you have to make is how are you going to finance the purchase.  Will you use a FHA Housing Loan or a traditional Conventional Loan?

Unless you have the necessary funds for a 20% down payment required for a Conventional Loan the decision will already be made for you.  The only other choice you have is a FHA Home Loan because you only have to have a 3.5% down payment.

But the low down payment is not the only advantage of a FHA Housing Loan.  The author of the below article does an excellent job of listing all of the advantages of a FHA Housing Loan.

FHA Or Conventional – You Decide

FHA stands for Federal Housing Administration. FHA loans are the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans that you hear so much about. One common misconception about FHA loans, is that Borrowers think that the FHA is lending them the money. This is not true. The FHA is ‘insuring’ your loan in case of default. This is why so many lenders like FHA so much. If you default on your loan, the FHA will buy that loan back from your lender. Therefore, the lender’s risk is extremely limited.

Where does FHA get its money to purchase back these ‘bad loans’? When you take out an FHA loan, you pay insurance. You pay an up front premium of the loan amount x .0175, and monthly insurance of the loan amount x .0005.

So to give you an example: Let’s say you are purchasing a home and your loan amount (not the purchase amount, but the loan amount) is $100,000. At closing, you will pay $1,750 (that’s $100,000 times .0175). Each month, you will pay an additional $50 (That’s $100,000 x .0005). You may think that sounds like a lot of money – but guess what…you are more than likely going to have mortgage insurance on a conventional loan as well – and you are going to pay an even higher rate on the conventional.

The purpose of this example was to just show you how the FHA gets its money to pay off the bad loans. The FHA started out taking money from the government, but has since become self-sufficient.

Many years ago, getting an FHA loan was a pain in the butt! Additional inspections, additional costs, they take longer to process, there was more paperwork involved, it was harder to qualify for, the appraisal guidelines were more strict, etc. Now, getting an FHA loan have been simplified and the additional costs are very limited.

Let’s compare a few points between the FHA and conventional loans, and you decide:

Down Payment
FHA requires a minimum of 3.5%
Conventional requires a minimum of 5%

Mortgage Insurance
FHA is less – Conventional costs you more

Origination Fee
Loan originators (loan officers) can charge you only up to 1% for FHA, while the fee they can charge you with conventional loans is an unlimited amount.

Credit Scores
FHA ’says’ that they don’t require a minimum credit score. However, the investors are still requiring around a minimum of a 620 score to qualify. Conventional loans are requiring around a 680 score. A 620 credit score going FHA allows a Buyer to have the same interest rate as a Buyer with a 740 score going conventional.

Closing Costs
FHA keeps these costs controlled; whereas conventional can get out of control

Bankruptcy
With FHA, you can qualify after two years, and with conventional, you must wait four years

Foreclosure
With FHA, you can qualify after three years, and with conventional, you must wait four years

Qualifying Ratios
FHA has higher qualifying ratios, while conventional has lower qualifying ratios

Seller Credits
With FHA a Seller can credit up to 6% of the Buyer’s closing costs.
With conventional loans, the maximum Seller credit is 3% towards closing costs

The maximum loan limit for an FHA loan is currently $271,050. So if you plan on purchasing a home whereas the amount is higher than that, you will need to make up for it by paying additional monies down so you can get the loan amount around $270,000ish. (you need a little ‘fluff factor’ for additional closing costs that may pop up.

Do FHA loans take longer to process and underwrite? Yes, they do…about 30 minutes longer

Is it more difficult to qualify for an FHA loan? They are often easier to qualify for than conventional loans.

So, let me ask you. Based upon the information above, which route do you want to take?

By: Region Realty

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

 Rodney McNabb is a Real Estate Agent and Property Manager with Region Realty. Region Realty handles Residential Home Sales, Leasing and Property Management services in the Greater Dallas, Texas Areas. You can contact Rodney through his website at www.RegionRealty.net

Here is another great article about "FHA Housing Loan-Great Way To Buy A Home Is With A FHA Housing Loan!"

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The truth is a lot of homes purchased with FHA Housing Loans are in good neighborhoods and are of high quality.  According what area of the country you live in, purchase price can be up to $700,000 and with only 3.5% down payment.

The low down payment of a FHA Housing Loan sure beats the 20% down payment required by some banks for conventional loans.

Buying A Home With An FHA Home Loan

When many people think of an FHA home loan they assume that these are loans that are for people who can’t afford a nice home, but that isn’t true.

Did you know that there have been more than 30 million homes purchased with these loans? Did you also know that some of the homes that have been purchased with these loans are valued at more than $700,000?

There is a lot of misinformation out there about these loans, and because of this misinformation, many people do not take advantage of them and they end up paying more for their loan than they need to.

FHA Doesn’t Mean Shabby

Many people think that if they acquire an FHA home loan that they have to buy some shabby home in the middle of a bad neighborhood, but this isn’t the case whatsoever. Chances are some of your neighbors in your current neighborhood have one of these loans; in fact, some of the nicer houses in your area may have been purchased with these loans! Would you have ever guessed?

To buy a home with an FHA home loan the home actually has to meet certain standards.

The house cannot have problems with the roof, with the foundation, with the heating and cooling systems, and things of that nature that take away from the value of the home.

In fact, the house has to be in good condition to be considered for this type of financing. So, a home purchased with one of these loans is more likely to be beautiful rather than shabby!

Just about any home can be purchased with an FHA insured loan.

This type of loan generally doesn’t limit the type of home that you can buy; instead it limits the costs that you will incur when you buy the home. Instead of having to put down as much as 20 percent on a home as a down payment, you will need to put down three to five percent on the home. Instead of having unlimited closing costs, there are limits as to what you can be charged.

In addition, there will also be programs available to you that will provide you assistance in paying for the down payment and closings costs!

While many people assume that an FHA secured loan means that they cannot buy the house of their dream others are going out and buying them.

Don’t assume that what you have heard or have thought about these loans is true. These loans have helped millions of people buy homes very affordably, and chances are you could be one of the millions more that will benefit from this loan program that is more than 70 years old!

While there are requirements and limitations as far as price goes with these loans, you will generally find that if you qualify, any house that you want could be yours because the limits are so high.

The limits are based on where you live, so chances are the home that you have been eyeing up could be yours, for less than you might thing, when you apply for and are accepted for one of these loans!

This is a very affordable option for a lot of consumers, making it worth the time and effort to look into this often misunderstood type of home loan!

By: IC

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Get more information about FHA home loan as well as expert advice regarding bad credit visit our expert source at: www.refinance.com/

Comments:  The author did mention down payment assistance programs.  These programs have pretty much been eliminated because of the foreclosure problems of these programs. 

FHA Housing Loan may be just the way you can buy your dream home, especially if you don’t have a lot amount of cash for a down payment.  So start looking in the good neighborhoods you want to live in and contact a lender and see if you qualify for a FHA Housing Loan.

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