Two influential housing-industry trade groups voiced alarm this month about the fees borrowers are charged when they take out a mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration — a popular source of loans for cash-strapped first-time home buyers.

The National Association of Realtors and the Mortgage Bankers Association wrote to the FHA, asking it to lower the ‘‘annual premiums’’ tacked onto monthly mortgage payments. The agency has raised those fees five times since 2010, from 0.55 percent of the loan’s value to 1.35 percent. Those fees and others are used to cover lender losses when borrowers default on a mortgage. (The FHA itself does not make loans; it insures lenders against losses if the loans go bad.)

The industry groups say the fees have become too expensive, shutting out the borrowers the agency is meant to serve. The Community Home Lenders Association lodged a similar complaint in a letter to the White House this year.

The mortgage bankers group says borrowers who take out a $100,000 FHA loan in 2014 will pay about $600 more in fees each year than they would have in 2008 on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

Still, the FHA is holding firm as the Obama administration pushes to scale back the government’s role in the housing market and protect its coffers.

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Shopping for a mortgage? Before going the ordinary route, take some time to consider an FHA loan, which comes with a benefit that can be especially appealing at a time of rising interest rates: assumability.

In other words, when it comes time to sell your home, a potential buyer may qualify to simply take over your mortgage at today’s relatively low interest rate rather than resorting to a new loan, minimizing your buyer’s monthly payment. That could be a strong selling point if, at that time, new mortgages charged more. Assumability could make it easier to find a buyer, and perhaps to get a higher sales price.

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Here’s a loaded question for condominium association boards and the real estate professionals who list and sell condominium units across the country: Is having access to an FHA loan a civil right?

Sounds ridiculous, I agree.

But here’s a slightly different version that has homeowner association legal experts more than a little concerned: Does that same consumer have the right to expect that a condo association’s board has at least given formal consideration to seeking certification from FHA in order to qualify prospective buyers for mortgage financing of individual units?

Could a buyer file a complaint on civil rights grounds against the association for not examining the pros and cons of accepting buyers who want to use low down payment FHA mortgages? After all, FHA loans play a unique role in helping minority consumers attain their goal of homeownership.

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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released its annual report to Congress on the financial condition of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund.

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With big changes coming to the mortgage industry at the beginning of next year, many consumers will want to evaluate their homebuying plans. Regulations drafted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will change the definition of a qualified mortgage for any loan applications received on and after Jan. 10, and many consumers may find themselves unable to meet the new requirements

Qualified mortgages are loans that meet certain standards designed to ensure that borrowers are highly likely to be able to pay back the amount in question. Facing this challenge, it’s up to the hopeful homeowner to improve their chances of mortgage approval by doing the necessary research, improving their credit profiles and meeting the qualified mortgage standards well in advance of filling out loan applications.

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On November 19, 2013, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing entitled “A General Overview of Disparate Impact Theory.”

Disparate impact theory allows the government or private litigants to bring discrimination claims based solely on statistics that show that an otherwise neutral policy has a disparate impact on protected classes without having to show intent to discriminate. Although the disparate impact theory is used primarily to bring housing discrimination cases under the FHA, which prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of color, religion, sex, familial status and national origin, it could conceivably be used to challenge insurance risk classifications that have a disparate impact on a protected class. Courts have found that homeowners insurance is essential to obtaining a mortgage and, therefore, is subject to the FHA.

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You remember the housing market meltdown a few years back, along with the ensuing taxpayer-funded bailout of large lending institutions. Well, in an effort to regulate the lending industry and protect the consumer/taxpayer, Congress established the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act). And many of its more ambitious new regulations will go into effect January 1, 2014.

The irony? Those changes may make it much more difficult for you to get a mortgage.

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How many condos and HOAs contain covenants restricting the number of people that can reside in a unit/townhome or house? I have seen many. What is unclear is whether the drafters of these covenants checked the local municipality requirements for occupancy. If not, then there is a potential Fair Housing Act (FHA) violation.
Yesterday the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit in the Middle District of Florida against a townhome HOA in Gibsonton, Florida for violation of the FHA by discriminating against families with children.

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For many people, a condo is the first step toward full-fledged home ownership. However, buying a condo isn’t the same as buying a house, bringing with it different considerations and concerns. If you feel like you’re ready to make the leap from renting to owning and are looking to purchase a condo, here are some things you should know. . .

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On September 13, 2012, FHA issued Mortgagee Letter 2012-18, putting in place a few temporary condominium project approval guideline changes, effective through August 31, 2014. Among the guidelines affected is the maximum percentage of non-residential space permitted in the project to qualify for FHA financing.

Under the previous guideline, no more than 25 percent of the project’s floor area could be used for non-residential or commercial purposes. FHA has now created four classes of mixed-use condominium projects:

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