“It’s important to remember that applicants must meet strict criteria for this program,” said Kelly Gill-Gordon, VHDA Homeownership Education Program Manager. “These criteria include being at risk of foreclosure due to involuntary unemployment or underemployment, a reduction in income, and being three months behind on your mortgage. Local counseling agencies across Virginia will be administering this program, and qualifying applicants will be placed in a lottery for available funds.”

HUD’s EHLP funds will pay a portion of an approved applicant’s monthly mortgage including missed mortgage payments or past due charges including principal, interest, taxes and insurance. The HUD program is expected to aid up to 30,000 distressed borrowers nationwide, and approximately 1,200 in Virginia.

The program is now available and the deadline is July 22, 2011, so homeowners are encouraged to submit their information now in order to find out if they qualify for this new mortgage assistance program and learn more about other options available to them.

Congress provided $1 billion dollars to HUD, as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, to implement the program. HUD’s EHLP funding is a complement to the Hardest Hit Fund which makes available $7.6 billion to 18 states and the District of Columbia that were hardest hit by the housing crisis.

Contact information for participating agencies, the Pre-Applicant Screening Worksheet and more information on HUD’s EHLP assistance and its eligibility requirements can be found at www.FindEHLP.org or by calling toll free at 855-FIND-EHLP (346-3345).

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Estimating Monthly Payments (the old version)
2. About Sweth Chandramouli
3. Estimating Monthly Payments

Some of the features we can offer on church lending products include:

• Loan-to-value (LTV) ratios as high as 80% with combined LTVs (CLTVS) up to 90%

• 24-hour turnaround on financing quotes

• Dedicated church financing consultants who are fluent in Spanish and Korean in addition to English

• Loans that do NOT require personal guarantors

• Low-doc loans for churches that are growing (or have recently seen a decline in membership that has stabilized) and thus don’t have a history of financial statements that reflect their anticipated financing needs.

• Church construction loans, with potentially zero down payment if the land is already owned; can be used for a variety of church construction projects, including sanctuaries, fellowship halls, day care centers, youth centers, etc.

• “Sanctuary saver” loans for congregations with significant equity in their current property but that are facing temporary financial difficulties including foreclosure or bankruptcy.

Interested in exploring your church financing options? Whether you are looking for a small church loan to renovate your property or a big loan to build a new facility, we want to be a part of your success!

Please contact us today to be put in touch with a church loan consultant who can analyze your needs and provide a no cost, no obligation consultation and written proposal that details the terms of the loan.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Low-FICO Lending Programs
2. Construction / Acquisition & Development Loans
3. How Ethical Homes’ Mortgage Team Helps Buyer Agents Close More Deals

Some of our clients are interested in just which wholesale lenders we work with; our list of wholesale lenders changes frequently, but here is a snapshot of some of our current residential wholesale lenders, as of May 05, 2011:

• Allied Capital
• American Financial Resources
• American Partners Bank
• Bismark Mortgage
• Caliber Funding
• Cardinal Financial
• Century Lending
• Chase Rural Housing
• Citimortgage
• Classic Home Financial
• CMG Mortgage
• Crestline Funding
• Direct Mortgage
• Eastern Savings Bank
• Everbank Wholesale Lending
• Fifth Third Mortgage
• First Community Mortgage
• First Federal
• First Guaranty Mortgage Corp (FGMC)
• Flagstar
• Franklin American Mortgage
• FPF Wholesale
• Freedom Mortgage
• Gateway Mortgage Group
• GMAC
• Guaranty Trust
• HCI Mortgage
• Home Savings OF America
• Icon Residential
• ING Mortgage
• JMAC Lending
• Just Mortgage
• Luxury Mortgage Corp.
• Maverick Funding
• M&I Home Lending Solutions
• M&T Bank
• MET Life Home Loans
• MFG Banking
• MID Island
• MNET
• Mortgage Services (MSI)
• Myers Park Funding
• Nationstar Mortgage
• Normandy
• NYCB (formerly Amtrust)
• Ocean Bank
• Pacific Union Finance
• Peoples Home Equity
• Plaza Home Mortgage
• Polaris
• Provident Funding
• Real Estate Mortgage Network, Inc.
• SC State Housing Finance
• Sidus Financial
• Sierra Pacific Mortgage
• Stearns Lending
• Sterling Lending Group
• Suntrust Mortgage, Inc.
• Trust One
• United Wholesale
• University Lending Group
• US Bank
• US Bank Consumer Finance Division
• US Mortgage Finance Corp.
• Walker Jackson
• Wells Fargo Home Mortgage

This list is automatically generated, so it may not include all of the residential wholesale lenders with whom we work; it also does not include any of the commercial or agricultural lenders in our portfolio.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. States where Ethical Homes can originate mortgages
2. TBW Suspended From FHA Lending
3. This American Life’s “Economy” Series

Whether you’re going for an HRAP (i.e. through FHA) or DELRAP (i.e. through an authorized FHA-delegate lender such as the Ethical Homes team) approval, the necessary documents are the same. Full details are included in FHA’s mortgagee letters 2009-46A and 2009-46B, and further clarified in mortgagee letter 2011-21; however, here’s a brief overview of the documents that need to be included for all existing condo developments:

• Most recent HOA budget

• Most recent HOA financial statements

• Copy of HOA master insurance policy

• Recorded condo/plat map indicating legal description

• Recorded condo site plans

• Recorded condo declarations and any or all annexations and amendments that apply

• Copy of executed and adopted condo by-laws

• Articles of Incorporation as filed

• FEMA Flood Certification Form

• Outstanding/Pending Litigation Analysis

• Special Assessments Analysis

• Last Two HOA Meeting Minutes

• HOA management agreement, or if self-managed, a letter on HOA letterhead indicating that fact

In addition, the application should include the following information:

• Number of units in development that are currently bank-owned REO

• HOA tax ID number

• Month & Year that condo was completed

• Standard FHA certification questionnaire

(The above documents are for existing condo developments that have been complete for more than 12 months; developments that were recently completed or that are still under construction will usually have more extensive documentation requirements.)

Have more questions about the process of applying for FHA certification?

If you’d like to submit a DELRAP application, the Ethical Homes team would be glad to assist you; just contact us and we can get the process started.

If you’d like to submit an HRAP application, we unfortunately can’t assist you directly; however, we’d be glad to refer you to attorneys who are able to do so. Again, just contact us and we can get you started on the way to getting your condo development certified.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. How To Get A Condo Development Approved For FHA Financing
2. HUD Increases FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums
3. Condos With High Investor Ratios

There are four key points to the new system of approving condos that are important to understand:

• First, HUD did away with what were known as “spot” approvals, where individuals looking to purchase a unit in a condo development could get approved for FHA financing even if the development as a whole was not approved; instead, the only way that anyone can be eligible for FHA financing for a unit in a condo development is if the condo development as a whole is on the approved list.

• Second, since the FHA approval status of a condo development affects everyone involved–buyers looking to purchase units in the development using FHA financing, homeowners already in the development who want to sell to those buyers, agents and lenders looking to facilitate those transactions, as well as the condo association (which should usually be protecting the interests of the unit owners by keeping the condo development FHA approved, which increases the number of buyers who can purchase units in the development, which in turn increases demand there and helps support property values for the unit owners)–any interested party is in theory allowed to submit an application to get the entire condominium development approved.

  However, it’s important to keep in mind that for technical reasons, no application can successfully be submitted without the cooperation of the Board of Directors of the condo association, as well as any management company that the Board may have retained to help manage the association. It’s essential that any interested party get complete buy-in from those entities before spending time and money to attempt to get a condo association approved; while it’s almost always in the best interests of the unit owners (and thus, in theory, the Board that represents them) to allow any interested party to get the entire development approved, we’ve recently seen isolated instances where parties such as the management company or attorneys retained by the Board have advised the Board not to cooperate with outside requests to get the condo development FHA-approved–from what we can tell, for no reason other than so that the entities in question could instead charge the association large sums to perform those same tasks on their behalf.

• Third, it’s important to know that HUD now has two pathways that interested parties can follow to process an application for FHA approval of a particular condo development: the HUD Review Approval Process (or HRAP), and the Direct Endorsed Lender Review Approval Process (DELRAP).

  When using HRAP, the application is submitted directly to HUD, who will usually take 6-8 weeks to process it. The HRAP application itself is free, but most of the time interested parties end up incurring significant costs in the form of fees paid to attorneys, management companies, etc., to prepare the application for them.

  When using DELRAP, the application is submitted to a mortgage lender who has been authorized by HUD to process applications on their behalf, and the approval process for DELRAP usually takes about 1-2 weeks. DELRAP generally costs about $500-$1000 (depending on whether the condo development in question is of recent construction and whether it has been previously approved for FHA financing), which is often (but not always) on par with or less than the fees charged by attorneys to handle an HRAP application.

  The documentation needed for an application is the same for both HRAP and DELRAP. For both HRAP and DELRAP, there may also be additional 3rd-party costs involved; for example, condo management companies will often charge fees in the $200-500 range for copies of the documents needed in the application–and they are, sadly, not averse to charging those fees to anyone who needs those documents, including the very associations on whose behalf they are maintaining those documents.

• Finally, under the new system, approval of a condo development for FHA financing expires in 2 years, and approvals issued before the change in rules in 2009 (which were originally permanent approvals) were also changed to expire; as a result, the fact that a condo development was previously on the HUD list of condos approved for FHA financing doesn’t mean that it currently is–agents, buyers, and homeowners are all advised to double-check the current status of a particular condo development before making any decisions regarding buying, selling, or refinancing.

As a general rule of thumb, here’s what we tend to recommend for people considering applying to get a condo development approved for FHA financing, depending on who they are and what their situation is:

• For sellers looking to put a condo on the market, buyers thinking about putting in an offer on a condo, or homeowners looking to refinance a condo, we recommend going with the DELRAP procedure, as most real estate transactions cannot survive the 2+ month delays that HRAP usually entails. As noted above, it’s essential for either DELRAP or HRAP to have the support of the Board of Directors for the process, so we recommend contacting them as soon as possible to make sure that they will cooperate, and if so, to see whether they might be able to initiate the DELRAP process on your behalf and cover the relevant fees. (Note that any FHA certification costs are NOT considered to be closing costs as part of a sale of an individual unit, and cannot appear on a HUD-1 settlement statement: buyers or sellers needing such an approval as part of an active transaction are advised to negotiate contingencies to allow that process to proceed separately from the purchase itself, and will have to pay any associated fees out of pocket if the Board will not cover those costs.)

• For condo associations that are considering getting FHA certification for their condo development, we recommend checking to see how much your attorneys and/or management company will charge to process the application. If that amount is comparable to or higher than the DELRAP fee, then the DELRAP approach usually makes sense; if the cost of attorney’s feed, etc., is less than the DELRAP fee, then HRAP might make more sense. (Depending on your attorney’s level of familiarity with the HRAP process, however, some associations opt to pay a slightly higher fee to go the DELRAP route so that they can be advised by someone who is more familiar with the process.)

Interested in pursuing an HRAP approval? We’ve put together a brief overview of the documents you’ll need to provide as part of your application, and would be glad to refer you to attorneys who can help with filing your application if you need further assistance.

Interested in exploring your options for a DELRAP approval? The Ethical Homes team can process DELRAP applications for you through our wholesale lenders. We do not charge any fees to do so–all you would pay would be the exact DELRAP fee that the wholesale lender is authorized by HUD to charge. Contact us for more details on how to begin that process.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Documentation Needed To Get A Condo Development Approved For FHA Financing
2. FHA Announces Extension Of Condo Project Approvals
3. Getting Pre-Approved For A Mortgage

For that REO (“Real-Estate Owned”) inventory, Fannie Mae is currently offering buyers up to 3.5% in closing cost assistance through June 30, 2011. The HomePath property buyer must meet the following qualifications to be eligible:

• Buyers and/or selling agents (the agent representing the buyer) must request the incentive upon submission of initial offer in order to be eligible.

• The initial offer must be submitted on or after April 11, 2011 and close by June 30, 2011. If an initial offer was made prior to the effective date, the offer is not eligible for the incentive.

• The sale must close on or before June 30, 2011. No exceptions will be made to this deadline.

• Only buyers purchasing a HomePath property as their primary residence may receive up to 3.5% in closing cost assistance. Second homes and investment properties are excluded from the incentive. (HomePath properties are still often very good deals for investment properties; among other things, they are one of the only types of properties that investors can purchase while putting down as little as 10%.)

• Buyer must sign and Owner Occupant Certification Rider to the Real Estate Purchase Addendum; this is basically just to confirm the “primary residence” requirement above.

• If a buyer’s total closing costs are under 3.5%, the difference will not be available as a credit to the buyer.

Note again that this incentive must be clearly identified on the purchase contract, and these loans must close by June 30, 2011.

Before you put an offer in on a HomePath-eligible property, it’s important that you understand what HomePath financing is. We’ve got a a primer on HomePath financing, but if you still have questions, or want to get prequalified to purchase a HomePath home, let us know.

Are you interested in finding HomePath-eligible properties? We can also help you find a buyer agent who is experienced with HomePath properties, or you can start your search yourself online on the HomePath website.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. HomePath Mortgages Allow Easy Purchase of FNMA Foreclosures
2. Congress extends closing period for homebuyer tax credit
3. USDA GRH mortgages

The Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA) program provides up to $4k of financial assistance to eligible military spouses (including spouses of active duty National Guard/AGR members) who are pursuing a license, certification or Associate’s degree in a portable career field and occupation; real estate and mortgage licensing is included in that category, so eligible spouses who include that sort of licensing in their Education and Training Plan can quickly and easily get trained and licensed to work in the real estate industry.

For military spouses in (or moving to) the greater DC area (including Northern Virginia, DC, and suburban MD), Ethical Homes is glad to help facilitate that process in multiple ways:

• First, we’re always glad to talk to folks about their plans to get into real estate, and help them make sure that it’s the right choice for them. (These jobs can be a lot harder than they look!)

• Second, we can help identify which training/licensing options are going to be the best fit for your schedule and circumstances (including figuring out whether you should go with online courses vs. in-person training, and what the best order is to get your licenses in (if you’re thinking about getting licensed in multiple jurisdictions), as sometimes you can just do the work of getting one license plus a little extra paperwork to have your license honored in a neighboring jurisdiction. (Depending on where you’re taking your classes, we might even also be teaching your licensing classes!)

• Finally, we’d be glad to help you get started actually working in the industry, including getting you set up w/ employers who are a good fit for you, and giving you advice as you ramp up your new business.

Interested in finding out more about MyCAA, or all ready to start the process of getting your license(s)? Contact us and we’d be glad to get you started. (And we’re also glad to help out people who aren’t eligible for the MyCAA program, of course.)

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Disclosures
2. About Sweth Chandramouli
3. Ethical Homes Team Among First To Participate In New Military Family Housing Education Program

Rapid resales of the same property, for increased prices at each sale, are often one of the techniques used by criminals to defraud mortgage companies; similarly, those sorts of rapid resales or “flips” can often be used by con artists who make superficial (and shoddy) improvements to a property and quickly resell it to an unsuspecting consumer. As a result, many lenders will not provide mortgages on properties that were sold within the last 6 months, or will put restrictions on such mortgages (often including a cap on the new purchase price of 120% of the last sales price); in fact, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development actively limits most FHA financing that meet those criteria.

While we at Ethical Homes fully support efforts to reduce fraud and protect consumers, we also recognize that there are sometimes legitimate circumstances where a property can be resold in a relatively short period of time at a profit, and that allowing those sales to go through by providing financing can actually help communities that are reeling from foreclosures to recover more quickly. For example, it’s not uncommon for foreclosed properties to be in such bad shape that they might need tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars of rehab work before they would be fully habitable; if an investor purchased such a property for, say, $200k, and in one month put $50k of work into the property to make it comparable with other $350k properties in the same neigborhood, it wouldn’t be reasonable to limit that investor to only being able to resell that property for 120% of their original price, or $240k, which would be less than their original purchase price plus the cash they had put into the property! Most lenders, however, wouldn’t be able to lend on that property at a price of $350k for another 5 months, meaning that everyone in that neighborhood would have their property values pulled down by that one formerly-dilapidated property.

As a result, we’ve found wholesale lenders to fund our loans who will use common sense when underwriting mortgages on flipped houses, and independent appraisers to confirm that any increase in sales price between rapid sales is justified, so that when it does make sense, we can provide financing for resales immediately after the previous sale, and for whatever increase in price is justified by the market (and any improvements made to the property).

Interested in purchasing a property that was recently sold (or interested in purchasing a fixer-upper and want to make sure that you’ll be able to re-sell it to a buyer who can get financing)? Contact us and we’d be glad to go over your options with you.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Refinancing Properties That Have Recently Been Listed For Sale
2. Using Seller-Assisted Financing To Sell Your Listings Faster & For A Higher Price
3. How Ethical Homes’ Mortgage Team Helps Buyer Agents Close More Deals

The first Bargain Buy Spotlight is for 10000 Forest View Pl, a rowhouse in the McKendrie neighborhood of Montgomery Village, MD, that is currently listed for sale for $96k, which is nearly unheard of in the DC area. The property is in definite need of some rehab work, but it’s priced $40k-$50k lower than comparable homes in the neighborhood, and since the property is a post-foreclosure home being sold by Fannie Mae, we can offer exclusive Fannie Mae HomePath Renovation financing, so that the necessary renovations can actually be financed into the purchase, meaning a buyer can not only get the property for a net cost that’s still below current market value, but also have the home finished to their own tastes. For a buyer who doesn’t need to move in to a new property immediately, this could potentially be a real value.

Interested in finding out more about these sorts of bargain opportunities, or learning about how renovation financing works? Contact us and we’d be glad to get you on your way to a new home.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Fannie Mae Will Pay Closing Costs On Certain Post-Foreclosure Sales
2. Financing For Buyers Of Recently Purchased Properties (aka Flipped Homes)
3. Loans For Investors With Multiple Financed Properties

The entire point of using a house as collateral on a mortgage is that if the lending bank is forced to foreclose on the property, they can turn around and sell the property to recoup their loss; as a result, many lenders are leery of accepting as collateral a property that was recently listed for sale but that didn’t actually get sold, since that might imply that they would in turn have trouble selling the property after a foreclosure.

As a result, most lenders require 90 or more days of “seasoning” after a property has been listed for sale before they will consider allowing a refinance of the property; for example, the popular reference site eHow claims that many lenders require a minimum of six months seasoning after listing before a property can be refinanced. At Ethical Homes, however, we have a wide variety of wholesale lenders that we work with who will fund refinance loans on properties originated as soon as one day after the property was officially taken off the market (often referred to as “one day off MLS”).

If you’ve got a property that is currently on the market but that you’re having trouble selling, contact us and we’d be glad to help you evaluate your options and figure out whether refinancing into a lower rate might be a reasonable fallback solution for you.

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Financing For Buyers Of Recently Purchased Properties (aka Flipped Homes)
2. How Long Do You Have To Wait After A Short Sale Before You Can Get A New Mortgage?
3. Loans For Investors With Multiple Financed Properties