HUD recently announced changes in the mortgage insurance premiums that borrowers using FHA financing will be charged; in response to industry complaints about the short time frame provided for implementing those changes, HUD has agreed to postpone that implementation by one month. Read the rest of this entry »

FHA issued a notice yesterday that it will, as expected, make some fairly substantial changes to the mortgage insurance premiums that it charges to FHA borrowers. Read the rest of this entry »

For the first time in our history, we are offering a discount to just one group of potential customers–members of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and their friends & families. Read the rest of this entry »

I was recently quoted in the Washington Examiner in an article about the tax credit for military, diplomatic, and intelligence personnel; as is often the case with those sorts of articles, though, space constraints meant that a lot of the details that I gave to the reporter ended up not being published, so I thought I would give people the fuller story here. Read the rest of this entry »

Congress has passed the Homebuyer Improvement and Assistance Act of 2010, which extends the deadline by which certain buyers need to close on their purchases of homes in order to be eligible for up to $8000 in tax credits. Read the rest of this entry »

While most post-foreclosure properties (aka REOs) end up being owned by individual banks, many such properties actually end up being owned by FNMA (Fannie Mae); since Fannie is one of the major players in mortgage markets, preferred FannieMae lenders are allowed to offer a special HomePath mortgage product that makes the process of buying those Fannie-owned REOs. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many criteria that need to be looked at to determine if a homeowner is eligible for a HARP refinance; many of them will need to be reviewed with your mortgage consultant, but one of the first steps can be easily done by the homeowner for themself. Read the rest of this entry »

Buyers of homes in Special Flood Hazard Areas will probably be unable to close on their purchases for the next few weeks due to the failure of Congress to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Read the rest of this entry »

Are you worried about whether that basement apartment in your home (or the home you are thinking of buying) could be legally rented out? Even worse, are you already renting your basement out and are worried that DC inspectors might cite you for not doing it right? DC has unveiled a great new web page to help answer all of your questions. Read the rest of this entry »

Mortgage modifications are proceeding slowly, and while some homeowners have been able to benefit greatly from them, many others are being hurt just by trying to achieve them. Read the rest of this entry »