|
Just-in-time help from the feds: FHA-Secure plan to assist subprime borrowers
On August 31 President Bush announced a new initiative called FHASecure, which will give the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) flexibility to help more families keep their homes in light of the decline of the subprime market and impending interest rate adjustments affecting numerous borrowers in both the subprime and Alt-A markets.
The FHASecure program will help people who have not made all of their payments on time because of rising mortgage payments but who otherwise have good credit. NAR has applauded President Bush’s statement of support for giving homeowners greater flexibility to refinance their loans through the FHA. The association has advocated regulatory changes to the FHA program and earlier this year asked that the FHA waive the requirement that a homeowner’s mortgage be current to refinance into an FHA loan product.
Pat V. Combs, 2007 NAR president, said, “The National Association of Realtors® strongly commends President Bush for his leadership in proposing a set of policies designed to ease the crisis in the mortgage industry and halt the rapidly increasing rate of foreclosures affecting many American families today.
“NAR has been advocating for many of these FHA changes since early 2007. In letters, testimony, speeches and meetings, we have encouraged both Congress and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to make meaningful changes to the FHA that would stem rising foreclosures.”
The proposed changes will allow more people to refinance with FHA insurance, like those that have fallen behind in their mortgage because of so-called “exploding ARMs.” Many families who have been making their mortgage payments at the starter rate but were unable to keep them up after the loan reset have been unable to refinance through the FHA, but with this increased flexibility, FHA can now help many more families in jeopardy of losing their home.
|
|
