FHA Borrowing Standards Getting Tougher!

Important for all first time home buyers!

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a division of The Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The main Focus of FHA is to guarantee loans made to first time home buyers or buyers that have never used an FHA loan before. The goal is to help these buyers get into a home by offering lower down payments and “backing” the loan so that lenders take less of a risk loaning to these borrowers.

Typically the first time home buyer does not have much money to put down on a home and also does not have a lot of credit built up, making it tough to get conventional loans for purchasing real estate. FHA has always been a great program helping these borrowers get into their first home, now FHA is tightening the ropes…

Today FHA Commissioner David Stevens announced a set of policy changes to strengthen the FHA’s capital reserves, these changes include

1.  Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending
o The first step will be to raise the up-front MIP by 50 bps to 2.25% and request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that the FHA can charge.

2. Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers.
o New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA's 3.5% down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10%.

3. Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%
o The current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value. This change will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards on seller concessions.

4. Increase enforcement on FHA lenders
o Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data - Will be available on the HUD website on February 1.

So what do these policy changes mean to you?.... If you are thinking about buying a home you better do it sooner than later, these changes are part of many changes that are and will continue to make it tougher to buy a home.
For the full article please click on
http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-016
If you are thinking about buying a home please call me, lets grab a cup of coffee and talk about all your options!

Dirk 806 654 3842

TEAM HORIZON at Prudential Ada Realtors

Team Horizon

Specializing in new Beginnings

I have been in the real estate industry for close to three years now and have always thought it would be great to function in a team capacity. As a Realtor there are many tasks that you have to balance between buyers and sellers. Tasks like helping someone find the perfect home while negotiating a deal for a seller while trying to close a transaction that just hit complications all at the same time. Sometimes it can get overwhelming.


I have been looking for certain qualities in another Realtor that would make a great fit for me to team up with. WHOP! Enter Cindy Fogiel! Cindy has been in Real Estate for 4 years now with Prudential Ada Realtors and has a solid track record. Her enthusiasm and excitement about real estate and dedication to provide top service for her clients is fantastic. Cindy has extensive experience with working with buyers, anything from first time home buyers to buyers purchasing their retirement property.


Along with teaming up, we hired an administrative assistant Tisha Ramero, this will allow us to spend more time with our clients.


We are very excited about being able to serve our clients better through streamlining processes, improving marketing, and being able to rely on each other to assist clients all while offering the global powerhouse brand of Prudential Real Estate
We named our team “Team Horizon”, this was important to us because we understand that buying or selling real estate starts a new phase in people’s lives. New schools, new neighbors, new area or city, and so much more.
The Horizon is a symbol of new opportunities and new beginnings; we want to be part of providing that for our clients. It much more than buying or selling a house, it about entering a new and fresh stage of life!

                                             Cindy Fogiel              Dirk van Reenen
                                             806 678 5472             806 654 3842
If you have any question about buying or selling real estate please give us a call, we would love to buy you a cup of coffee and get to know you better!

Amarillo Homes for Sale

Thinking about buying a home?

There are some fantastic homes for sale in Amarillo, over 1400 right now are on the market and ready to move. Always make sure that you get a professional Realtor to run a market analysis on the property you want to purchase, to ensure that you do not over pay. A buyer's agent can assist you with anything from market analysis, writing up good offers and contracts, referring you to lenders, inspectors, appraisers and much more. The best part is that buyer's agents are paid by the listing agent and don't cost you for their services.

If you are looking to buy a home in the Amarillo area, please give me a call for a free consultation.

Check www.sweethomeamarillo.com for all the listings in Amarillo!

4 Reasons why NOW is the best time ever to buy a home!

1. All time low interest rates

2. Free government money for first time home buyers and existing home owners

3. The market is at the bottom of the curve starting to climb up in value (Fast Equity Building)

4. Real Estate is a direct hedge against inflation (expectation of high inflation in the next few years)

Call me when you are ready to make a move, let’s grab a cup of coffee and talk about your next home!