Home sales were down in January, another sign that the housing market may not be recovering as quickly as many had hoped.  Sales of previously owned homes fell by 7.2 percent bringing the number of homes sold to its lowest level since summer.

“Most of the improvement that we’ve seen in housing over the past year has been tied to some sort of stimulus program,” said Wells Fargo …

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed changes to the law that would prohibit so-called “ foreclosure prevention” companies from charging up-front fees for their services. 

“Homeowners facing foreclosure or struggling to make mortgage payments shouldn’t have to contend with fraud­ulent companies that don’t provide what they promise,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz …

… Housing Administration are literally draining the agency of its cash reserves. The number of FHA foreclosures has increased 26 percent within the past year and at least 9.1 percent of FHA borrowers are at least 3 payments delinquent on their mortgage payments as of December.

The problems are rooted in FHA mortgages made in 2007 and 2008. Those loans are now maturing into their worst years because failures most often occur two to three years after a mortgage is made…If the trend …

Tags: FHA Foreclosures

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The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) announced that it has served subpoenas on 15 mortgage companies with suspiciously high default rates and foreclosures for loans backed by the FHA.

On Tuesday, Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general, Kenneth Donohue, said he wanted to determine why defaults are so elevated among the 15 companies being probed and whether any have committed fraud.

“Many …

Tags: FHA foreclosure Kenneth Donohue Subprime Loans

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The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has been hit pretty hard by the foreclosure crisis.  The agency, which insures 30 percent of new loans in the U.S. against default, has suffered heavy losses due to a high rate of foreclosures. More than 18 percent of FHA loans are at least delinquent by 30 days.  That’s more than the national average of 14 percent. The foreclosure crisis has even caused the FHA’s reserve to fall …

Tags: Delinquent Down Payment FHA Foreclosures New Home Loan

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According to an article in the Star-Telegram, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has been terribly weakened by the foreclosure crisis and many analysts fear that the housing agency may need a taxpayer bailout.

The article said:

“On Friday, the FHA said its financial reserves had sunk below mandatory levels for the first time in its 75-year history. While officials insist the agency won’t require a taxpayer rescue, falling home prices, rising unemployment and …

Tags: Barack Obama Federal Housing Administration FHA foreclosure

… spiral began after the Federal Housing Administration suspended Taylor Bean’s authority to issue FHA-insured loans. That was immediately followed by notices from Ginnie Mae and Freddie Mac (FRE) suspending Taylor Bean as an issuer of mortgage-backed securities and a mortgage servicer.”

Before completely shutting down its operations last week and filing bankruptcy, Taylor Bean was the largest independent home loan provider in the country.  The company’s bankruptcy and closure has …

… the loan amount or to add them into the price of the home whenever negotiating with the seller.  FHA loans allow you to roll many of the closing costs into the loan, but you will need to check what your options are, because your options depend upon the loan you are seeking to use.  If you want to consider adding the closing costs to the sell price of the home, the home must appraise for more than the sell price.  Then just make sure that the contract states that the seller will be …

… program.

The article said:

“Effective Aug. 15, financially troubled homeowners who have an FHA-insured loan can apply for a modification under a program parallel to “Making Home Affordable” to help lower their payments and avoid foreclosure.”

Currently the FHA backs about 5 million loans made to low-income borrowers and those with poor credit. Beginning in August, FHA homeowners facing foreclosure may be able to receive reduced mortgage payments in an effort to avoid …

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… money, unless they have spotless credit and a 20 percent down payment, and those buyers getting FHA financing say the process to get a loan is lengthy, which is contributing to the falling home sales, Gaines said. Between 15 and 30 percent of home sales in the state clearing the market are distressed sales, such as foreclosures, short sales and lender-owned properties, he said.”

With the number of job losses continuing to rise, there will be fewer people with “spotless” credit and …

… in an effort to avoid foreclosure will actually be ineligible for the program. According to the FHA, only 1,200 out 23,000 will actually be eligible for the program designed to avert foreclosure.

Hope for Homeowners was designed to help borrowers facing foreclosure by restructuring their mortgages and creating more affordable payments. But the problem has been that in order for troubled borrowers to participate, mortgage lenders must accept the new terms which states that the new loans …

… facing rapidly declining house values and possible foreclosure could apply for a government-backed FHA loan; but only if they can prove their creditworthiness. The new loan would be for the current value of their home, forgiving any negative equity.

Obama also proposes mortgage restructuring designed to prevent foreclosure, but says that the Housing and Urban Development group should work with current lenders. He proposes a 90-day foreclosure moratorium and $25 billion in aid to states …