Government | The Mortgage Outlet

New 2018 Conventional Loan Limits

29.11.2017

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has issued the maximum loan limits that will apply to conventional loans to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2018. The first mortgage loan limits are defined in terms of general loan limits and high-cost area loan limits. The limits are increasing in 2018.

The following chart contains the general loan limits for 2018:

The following chart contains the high-cost area loan limits for 2018:

The new limits are effective on or after January 1, 2018 […]

New 2017 Conventional Loan Limits

23.11.2016

Government

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has issued the maximum loan limits that will apply to conventional loans in 2017. The first mortgage loan limits are defined in terms of general loan limits and high-cost area loan limits. This is the first time the maximum loan limits have increased since 2006.

The following chart contains the general loan limits for 2017:

The following chart contains the high-cost area loan limits for 2017:

The new limits are effective on or after January 1, 2017

Why Wells Fargo Blinked in Its FHA Fight with the Government

8.03.2016

FHA, Government

The long arm of the government is tough to elude, even if you are the nation’s largest home lender.

Wells Fargo stunned the mortgage industry Wednesday by tentatively agreeing to pay $1.2 billion to resolve civil claims by the Justice Department and other federal agencies that it originated shoddy loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

The proposed settlement could prove a bellwether for other banks that have outstanding investigations of FHA loans including PNC Financial Services Group, Regions Financial and BB&T.

Wells had been the lone big bank holdout willing to go to trial as a potential test of the government’s pursuit of banks for violations of the False Claims Act. That Civil War-era law allows the government to collect triple damages for fraud against the government. The law also has been a lightning rod for banks, causing some to pull out of […]

Housing-Tax-Credit Fix Is Just a Drop in the Bucket

8.02.2016

Government, Market Conditions

Few folks, especially anyone connected with affordable housing, want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

For that reason, bankers have lauded the enactment last month of a federal tax law that, they say, could pave the way for an increase in the construction of affordable rental housing. But relative to the post-crisis boom in demand for apartments and soaring rents, the increase will be minor unless more reforms are enacted, according to bankers and others in the business.

“It helps, but there’s still so much more that needs to be done,” said Annette Billingsley, a managing director and group head of community development finance at Union Bank in San Francisco.

The change, a tiny provision tucked into the $1.1 trillion spending legislation that President Obama signed Dec. 18, is expected to provide more stability to banks and developers that use low-income housing tax credits […]