Builder - November 2008 - (Page 75)

NAHB BRIEFS Pay Up A t the start of the new year, buyers who use FHA mortgages for their ﬁnancing will be required to make a higher down payment, one of many changes to the FHA single-family mortgage program resulting from recent changes in the law. As of Jan. 1, FHA home buyers will have to make a cash contribution of 3.5 percent, and the new law makes no mention of closing costs. The FHA has interpreted this change to mean his BEAT NEWS FROM HOUSING’S GROUND ZERO ■ NATIONAL EDI T ED BY CL A IR E KOLT KO that closing c costs will no longer be factored into the mortgage/down-payment calculation. Right Price FROM THE PRESIDENT L illustr ation: richard borge ow-ball appraisals have emerged as a signiﬁcant stumbling block in lining up credit for the construction and sale of new homes. In a special presentation on Sept. 24, Robert Caringella, a principal of Jones, Roach & Caringella, offered advice on how builders can help appraisers give an accurate estimate. He cited the case of one local builder who was able to get good results because “he knew to give them the same information the builder had that convinced him to go forward. Give ▶ Interest Rises Home buyers are rediscovering FHA-insured mortgages. I n today’s troubled housing market, it’s very and operational requirements, which are established reassuring to know that our old friend, the FHA by Congress, have seriously limited the FHA’s abilmortgage loan, is still available to home buyers. ity to deliver the range of mortgage products that are In fact, the Housing and Economic Recovery needed to fulﬁ ll its housing mission. Act of 2008 and earlier legislation made a numWith the near collapse of the mortgage market ber of changes to FHA-insured mortgages that will and more restrictive underwriting by Fannie Mae make them even more effective in helping to meet and Freddie Mac, there has already been an upsurge the nation’s housing needs going forward. in the use of FHA-insured mortgages. The Over the past two decades, the popueconomic stimulus legislation enacted in larity and relevance of the FHA’s singleFebruary temporarily increased FHA loan family programs have waned because limits throughout the country to a maxistatutory and regulatory constraints have mum of $729,750 for a one-year period, limited the agency’s ability to carry out its a move that encouraged more buyers to mission of helping spur housing opportuconsider FHA mortgages. This trend is nities for America’s working families. likely to continue and increase as the conventional loan market retrenches and the Buyers, lenders, appraisers, and othmarket rediscovers this important morters have generally viewed the differences gage product. between FHA requirements and those for conventional mortgages as a disincentive SANDY DUNN Aiding this surge of interest in FHApresident, nahb (see page 76) to use FHA programs. In fact, the program washington, d.c. insured loans, provisions W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM nov e m ber 2 0 08 B U I LD E R ■ 75 http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Builder - November 2008

Builder - November 2008 Contents Editor’s Notes B-Mail Book It Missing Links Inside Story Top Shelf Green House Business Update Sales Strategies Industry Insight Products Tech Tools National Best Seiders' Economy Sifting Through the Ruins Cottage Industry Upside Down Ad Index Last Word

Builder - November 2008

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