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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Home Appraisals-Federal Housing Finance Agency Code of Conduct as of May 1, 2009

On all Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages, the loan officer will no longer pick the appraiser. The lender will order the appraisal through an appraisal management company and they will order the appraisal from an appraiser in their system on a rotation basis.
While the goal is to avoid improprieties in appraisals, it seems to penalize those that have gone above and beyond to be sure that they use honest and fair appraisers. Appraisals will cost more (since the appraisal management company wants a profit) and the appraisal management companies are paying the appraisers less per appraisal.
* However, so far, FHA is not involved in the Federal Housing Agency's Code of Conduct.

With all the changes in conventional financing, unless the borrower has a score over 700 and 10% to 20% downpayment… FHA is looking like the best way to go anyway.

Remember the Federal Housing Tax Credit: First time buyers (and buyers who have not owned a home in 3 years) are eligible for up to $8000 in tax credits for purchasing a home in 2009.