Conferees Pushing FHA Note Sales

House and Senate appropriation staffers are working on language that would permit the Department of Housing and Urban Development once again to sell single-family loans that have gone into default.HUD officials are admitting that the Federal Housing Administration loss mitigation program has not worked very well and that it would save more money if lenders assigned defaulted FHA loans to HUD so that the loans could be sold in bulk. Provisions to protect designated revitalization neighborhoods are expected to be included in the VA-HUD appropriations bill that would require loan pool buyers to meet certain performance standards, such as sales to owner-occupants and house repairs. House and Senate appropriation committee members plan to meet the week of Sept. 28 to complete work on the final bill, which includes the FHA loan-limit increase.