...and both those trains are moving with a lot of steam.

Scott Syphax, President and CEO of Nehemiah sent out an urgent plea for supporters of seller funded down payment assistance programs (SFDPA's) to press hard and try to save the program.  The most immediate threat is now the housing bill in Congress, which will likely be voted on this week.  See Scott's letter and more info here:

http://www.getdownpayment.com/outreach/mktg/11th_hour.html

Also jeopardizing these programs is HUD's effort at eliminating them by policy. The Federal Register notice pertaining to that action calls for a public comment period ending 08/15/08. When the notice was first released I supplied links in this AR post which you can again refer to for more info here:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/556503/Public-comment-urged-for

Between the two "trains" I just don't see seller funded DPA's surviving. That is a shame considering all of HUD's statistics on the matter, though bashing the default rates of SFDPA's, clearly show they have helped many families. I do feel HUD could better serve the public by amending underwriting guidelines to restrict abusive lending associated with SFDPA's but the ball has bounced into the field of politics and there it will likely end. Many numbers have been reported in many forums but if you want to know the real statistics being represented by HUD refer to the Federal Register notice here:

 http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/08-1356.pdf

The charts on page 33952 are particularly interesting and enlightening.

So look for the news as soon as a few days from now or as late as a couple of months from now. Be prepared with your loans in pipeline and advise your buyers. If you work with builders it is not very prudent to engage in dirt (new home construction) sales that may take months to complete. The same would apply for short sale contracts that may take months to resolve.

Gerry Suarez, Jr.

Your HUD Loan Pro!