This one thrills me to no end! You can save deals! You can’t do it every time because the seller or builder must have equity in the property – but if they do – it can be great for them, also! It not only helps sell the house, they end up with an excellent return on their “secured” investment, and a nice tidy income stream.

(Fannie Mae Selling Guide VII, 104.08; Announcements 08-10 (5-23-08); 08-16 (08-11-08))

You CAN use temporary rate buydowns with Fannie Mae and with Freddie Mac loans, and it's an incredible idea. "Buydowns" are another old idea come new again, and may be exactly the "edge" you need to increase your business, or possibly, to save your transaction.

A temporary buydown is not a product, but rather, it's a feature that is used to enhance existing loan products. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow "buydowns" to be used in conjunction with many, but not all of their products.

Okay, technically it matters. The effective date refers to the date that Fannie Mae purchases the loan from the lender. There wasn’t nearly enough notice given to the lenders and they were coming unglued. After all, it would have cost them big time.

The original date really was chicken on Fannie’s part, I’m glad they changed it.

(Fannie Mae Announcement 08-18R (Reissue); August 11, 2008)

What’s happening is a result of the increased foreclosures and delinquencies. With the sophistication of the technology available, high-risk loan features become more identifiable and quantifiable.

Helpful Hint: Note that 15-year loans are not subject to the credit score/loan-to-value price hits. Every time you shorten the term you reduce the risk.

Obviously, many of your clients can’t afford 15-year term mortgages, but think about shortening the term any time you can. It can help with loan approvals.

(Freddie Mac Bulletin, August 8, 2008)

Oh My Gawsh! These changes were made effective June 1, and Freddie still hasn’t updated LP!

What concerns me the most goes something like this: the loan officer takes a loan application and passes it on to the Processor who receives an LP approval. Assuming everything is fine and dandy, the LO moves on to the next deal as the ineligible loan is processed. The day before closing, the transaction is rejected and must be entirely restructured, if possible. Or worse, the loan is closed – and unsalable.

However, Freddie wouldn’t have “reminded” everyone if there wasn’t a problem.

(Freddie Mac August Single-Family News; August 2008 Issue)

Honest, there is no immediate impact, and I wasn’t going to even write about it yet. But it turns out that there are so many rumors and scare stories circulating about complicated disclosure changes, and being out of compliance – I just had to respond. There’s so much misinformation!

(If you want to hear more about the “mis-information” that’s spreading, go to my new blog, www.MortgageTalkingPoints.com.)

(HR3221, Housing and Economic Recovery Act; Section 2502, Enhanced Mortgage Loan Disclosures)

It's about time! It's quite a relief that the new UFMIP is a lot lower than it was expected to be! I think that 1.75 is a number that everyone can live with. The fun is going to be dealing with all of the various MIP factors and methods of calculations - and getting it right! Reference Chart Included.

(HUD Federal Register "Notice"; Docket No. FR-5171-N-03, 8-24-2008)

We’ve all been waiting for this because new loan amount calculations were “supposed” to be effective 10-1-08, and thank goodness they’re not. But still, the news is still incredible! I’ve never actually seen HUD really and truly “simplify” anything, let alone the loan amount calculations. They’ve actually done it this time!

And then, the refinance calculations are a shocker! There’s a bunch more, so let me go over things one at a time.

(FHA Mortgagee Letter 2008-23, June 11, 2008)

The Secretary of HUD will have discretion to revise the current condominium requirements under the new Section of the Act.

I'm not kidding, that's it! Apparently before, HUD was stuck with rigid rules mandated by Section 234 of the Act; NOW, Section 203(b) gives them much more control.

So here we are, knowing NOTHING for sure. But everybody keeps asking about the new condo rules, and I DO know something...

The following information came from Jim Beavers, Deputy Director of Single Family Development at HUD.

(HR3221, Sec. 2117. Insurance of Condominiums. Housing and Economic Recovery Act.)

As far as I'm concerned, it isn't even worth the paper it's written on. I'd choose to ignore writing about it, but Washington keeps touting it and throwing it out for the world to see, saying it will be "the" program to save borrowers who are facing foreclosure.

(HR3221.ENR. Division A - Title IV - HOPE FOR HOMEOWNERS)

VA loans are gaining popularity again with the elimination of most other 100% purchase mortgage products. For those of you who are wading into the waters of VA lending for the first time or haven't been doing them lately, here are some great tips to help our veteran get a copy of their Certificate of Eligibility (COE) and/or their DD214 - Report of Separation.

Written By: Tracey Rumsey, CMI, DRIE, SWBC Mortgage Co. & MortgageCurrentcy.com Advisory Board member.

Read more on how easy it is to become a VA-Approved Lender.

Have you noticed that VA loves to create and use their own acronyms? I swear their HAP is what we have all been calling downpayment assistance programs (DPAs or DAPs) all along. But in all fairness, VA doesn’t require a downpayment – so HAP it is!

If you use any of these HAP-type programs for your FHA homebuyers, why not VA? If you don’t use them, maybe you could start.

(Circular 26-08-14, August 19, 2008)