Current Home Lending Info Blog for Southern Nevada

HUD, or the Department of Housing and Urban Department officials are now saying that the FHA program that is currently being used to finance over 50% of all transactions in the state of Nevada may be doing better than what they anticipated in their original speculations on the losses they would take during the real estate craze.

"While obviously delinquincies and defaults have been rising, we also have seen some encouraging signs in recent analysis of the FHA portfolio," HUD secretary Shaun Donovan told reporters last week.

The secretary went on to say that the credit scores associated with FHA loans have gone up over the past year, and that the FHA program did not get hit as hard as some of the conventional and sub-prime programs did due to the fact that the FHA product at the height of the market, was not being utilized as the major tool for financing the areas that reached the highest defaults and decline in prices.

Nevada is one of those states that was not utilizing the FHA loan as some of the other states were during that time frame when homes were on a drastic rise.  The main reason for this is due to the fact that, at the time, most lenders and brokers had negative conotations of the FHA loan and the strict guidelines they had on homes, as well as the fact that they required a 3% down payment, when the conventional lenders were allowing us to take advantage of the many 0 Down products that were available.

In today's market, FHA has become a major resource for us to lean on, given the fact that, even though they raised the down payment requirement up to 3.5%, it is still lower than the conventional products that are now available, which require a minimum of 5% down.

FHA is a government backed loan, and has many perks to it that make it a great program to utilize in our current market.  Not only is the down payment minimal, it also allows for those that take FHA loans to do what they call FHA streamline refinances at a term usually 3-6 months after purchasing the home.   What an FHA Streamline Refi is, is basically a way for those that originally chose to purchase their homes with an FHA product, to refinance should and when rates drop without having to document assets, income, and value of the home again.  The paperwork for those that purchased using an FHA loan is as easy as the Stated Income/Stated Asset Programs of old were.  Speak to your current mortgage broker, or if they are no longer in businesss, contact us and we will assist you in determining if a Streamline Refinance is feasible for you, and can usually be completed in a couple of weeks, making it easy for the homeowner, and allowing them to, very efficiently, lower their monthly payment, making it more affordable for current homeowners.

Have a great weekend!  Dave Schwartz  702-370-2116, The Schwartz Group