Don't know how many of your customers use the Nehemiah program, but all of us licensed to do FHA loans were sweatin' it just a little. For those of you who don't know; the Nehemiah program was in use to provide down payment assistance money (3%) for FHA insured mortgages. These mortgages in Mecklenburg county and surrounding areas were up to $220,470. That's a pretty good house no matter how you slice it. Anyway, this is an excerpt from a letter I received yesterday from Scott Syphax, the president and CEO of Nehemiah.

"Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California upheld Nehemiah's motion for summary judgment. The Court Clerk's Office is directed to enter judgment and close the case.

To be clear, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) rule to ban private downpayment assistance as proposed in the "Standards for Mortgagor's Investment in Mortgaged Property" regulation published October 1, 2007, is permanently set aside."

This is huge guys. The Senate is working on FHA reform legislation in the coming weeks that will determine the future of FHA loans. This is vitally important as it will help to provide a cushion and pick up some of the folks that might have qualified for sub-prime loans in the past, but now have fewer options. I've been doing FHA loans for 5 years and can tell you that the default rate on them is nil. The interest rates are pretty much the same as a conforming loan. They provide a great way to finance those buyers of yours that have limited or no credit or are first-time home-buyers.

Help yourselves out by contacting your senators and expressing support for down payment assistance programs such as Nehemiah. The more customers we can put into solid loan programs that won't default at good interest rates, the happier these folks are going to be, the more homes you are going to be able to sell and the more happy referrals we are going to receive from satisfied customers.