Originally published by ARELLO in their September 2009 Newsletter – Buyers trying to work with mortgage servicers on delinquent accounts have noted delays and frustration when they are trying to take advantage of mortgage loan modifications authorized by the “Making Home Affordable” program. To help, Freddie Mac recently released a YouTube™ video that helps homeowners to determine the documents they need in order to have a “focused” conversation with authorized loan counselors.
Freddie Mac says that lenders and loan servicers are being overwhelmed by contacts from homeowners in financial trouble who are seeking to take advantage of the new loan modification and refinancing programs. The new video entitled “Stop Foreclosure: Documents Your Lender Needs to Help You,” can be seen at Freddie Mac’s YouTube™ channel online by clicking here or watching below. The two-minute production shows late-paying borrowers how to gather a few financial documents before calling a mortgage servicer. This simple step can cut the time needed for a loan servicer to understand the borrower’s situation, determine eligibility for a workout and process the application for a loan modification under the “Making Home Affordable” program or Freddie Mac’s other workout initiatives.
According to the video, the key documents borrowers should have when they call their servicer include:
• Most recent monthly mortgage statement;
• Pay stubs or other documents showing their household’s monthly pre-tax income;
• Most recent tax return;
• Second loan or home equity line of credit statements;
• Account balances and minimum monthly payments on credit cards, car loans, student loans or other debt;
• A short, concise description of the financial hardship that is causing or leading to a mortgage delinquency.
Ingrid Beckles, senior vice president of default asset management at Freddie Mac. “By taking a few moments to gather these documents borrowers can help their servicer understand their financial situation and reduce the need for repeat calls”, she said.
HUD and the FHA announced in recent weeks that the new 1004MC form required as of April 1st, 2009 by Fannie and Freddie will also be required for all FHA appraisals. The release from FHA reads in part:
…In order to ensure greater transparency and accuracy of appraisals performed for FHA-insured financing, FHA will adopt the Market Conditions Addendum (Fannie Mae Form 1004MC/ Freddie Mac Form 71, released November 2008).
For all appraisals of properties that are to be security for FHA-insured mortgages and that are performed on or after April 1, 2009, the appraisal must include the Market Conditions Addendum.
With the adoption of the new form by the FHA, most government backed loan appraisals now must include the new form. Members are encouraged to learn about the new form, which is designed to enhance the transparency of the market trends and conditions conclusions made by the appraiser. The Market Conditions Addendum will be required with all one- to four-unit property appraisals performed on or after April 1, 2009.
Why the concern for residential real estate agents? With the new form adding up to an hour of work per appraisal, costs for appraisals may soon begin to increase.
VanEd is offering 100% online course is all it takes to understand what Fannie/Freddie and now the FHA want, and learn exactly how to give it to them.
Federal bank regulatory agencies have begun what they term “forward-looking assessments”. These assessments are a part of the Capital Assistance Program and are designed to examine how U.S. bank holding companies with more than $100 billion in assets will fair in both a conservative, “baseline” recession and also in “a deeper and longer recession” than the baseline.
By the end of April Federal regulatory agencies will complete the assessment process. Officials will be working with the holding companies to determine a range of possible losses and that the institutions can absorb those potential losses.
Additional details about the assessments can be found in a published FAQ by clicking here.
The Office of Thrift Supervision, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve system make up the combined federal bank regulatory agencies.
On February 19th, Director James Lockhart III of the Federal Housing Finance Agency spoke to the 7th Annual National Leadership Conference of the Association of Government Accountants in Washington, D.C. In his speech, Director Lockhart indicated that 62% of all delinquent mortgages we held by Private-Label Securities – which means a mortgage-backed security that was created by a company other than a GSE, or government sponsored enterprise. These securities are typically ineligible for purchase by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, as they are collateralized by loans that are also ineligible.
Director Lockhart also discussed the need for Fannie and Freddie to continue to provide a “leadership role in developing mortgage market best practices.” This includes the recently announced Home Valuation Code of Conduct that will take effect May 1st, 2009 that requires new appraisal quality control measures. The FHFA also recently announced the requirement of loan-level identifiers that loan originators and appraisers must use beginning January 1st, 2010.
>>>>> Click Here to read the entire speech and to view the charts used by Director Lockhart.
Still looking for an incentive that you can use to get homebuyers off the fence and into the markets? So was the government when it re-instituted the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The bill provides for a $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time homebuyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. The credit does not require repayment. Most of the mechanics of the credit will be the same as under the older rules from 2008.
In order to receive the credit the purchaser will need to claim it on their tax return. This will reduce the purchaser’s income tax liability. Any unused credit amount will be refunded as a check to the purchaser.
NAR has published a worksheet that explains major provisions of the credit – Click Here to view
