I just got word from the National Association of REALTORS Action Center that the Senate has passed the FHA Modernization Bill. They have been working on this for some time now and the next step is to go to a conference committee where they can reconciled the two versions passed, one by the US House of Representatives and the new bill passed by the Senate.
I am hoping we get them to increase the loan limits to the conforming limit now of $417,000. They are also looking into modifying the downpayment amounts to make it easier for borrowers to qualify for these loans. The other terms they are working on is a 40 year amortization, possibly allow more condo loans, varianging the mortgage insurance premium, and other helpful programs.
It is not over by no means. Who knows how it will all look at the end after they work through all of the issues, wants, and dislikes. FHA has been needing to be Modernized for some time now. We are on the right track at least.
Read what the bill actually reads:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2338:
Here is a link to see how the vote when:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=s2007-432
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Ernie,
This is great news for CA. I read this in an article earlier today. I had previously heard that the limit would be increased to 417k and hoping that it would pass.
I know that the limit for VA has already been passed to a new limit to match the conforming limit of Fannie and Freddie at 417k. This limit for the FHA was surely to follow as it only makes sense since they are tied to gvt loans. It is sort of like "Love and Marriage. You can't have one without the other." (ie. taken from TV episode Married with Children) So in this case VA is love and FHA is marriage. :)
Do you know anything about the conforming limit increasing from the present 417k? I have heard some say that it might increase to 500k while others said 600k. Increasing this limit would help those who are in the jumbo loans now have the ability to refi.
It's raining in Southern CA! I guess that is better than the snow storm in the east coast.
Dave