Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has joined Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, in co-sponsoring a Federal Housing Administration reform bill that the Bush administration wants to pass this year.The FHA reform package represents the Department of Housing and Urban Development's efforts to modernize the FHA program, provide safer and lower-cost loan products for subprime borrowers, and gain back market share for the 70-year-old single-family mortgage insurance program. The FHA reform bill (H.R. 5121) would substantially increase FHA loan limits and eliminate a 3% downpayment calculation so that borrowers could get a zero-down FHA loan or make a downpayment to reduce their insurance premiums under a new risk-based premium structure. The reform package also includes enhancements to the FHA's condominium and reverse-mortgage programs. And it revamps the manufactured housing program so that the FHA can provide co-insurance on individual "home-only" MH loans. Congressman Ney chairs the House Financial Services subcommittee on housing, and Rep. Waters is the ranking Democrat on the panel. Reps. Gary Miller, R-Calif., and Patrick Tiberi, R-Ohio, have also signed up as co-sponsors.
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The five states with the lowest property taxes have an average effective real-estate tax rate of 0.44%.
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Ohio-based Liberty Home Mortgage joins several companies who started using a more modernized FICO credit score for nonconforming mortgage originations recently.
April 17 -
The CFPB has dissolved the Office of Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending and eliminated the job of associate director in a move that impacts how it designates nonbanks for supervision.
April 17 -
The plan that the Federal Housing Finance Agency floated calls for Freddie Mac to actively invest in some new closed-end seconds as cash-out refinancing subsides.
April 17 -
The push comes amid what one expert highlighted as lax funding efforts for two Department of Housing and Urban Development grant programs.
April 17 -
Conventional lending drove volumes higher, particularly in the purchase market, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
April 17