FHA to Tighten Lending Requirements
Real Estate buyers in the Tampa Bay area have been in the driver’s seat for nearly a year with the First-Time Home Buyers Tax Credit, slumping real estate prices and incredibly low mortgage interest rates. If all of those factors were not reason enough to make that long dreamed about real estate purchase, the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) announcement of impending tightening of lending requirements should get buyers to take action in short order. According to the Realty Times article, Tighter Requirements for FHA Loans Loom , “After notice and comment periods, but beginning this spring, the FHA will raise mortgage insurance fees that borrowers must pay, cap the amount of cash that sellers can contribute for closing costs and require higher down payments for the borrowers with poor credit scores.” FHA has become more exposed to mortgage defaults as it has become the main avenue to financing for many in this country since the subprime market collapsed. Vice President of Real...