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CUOMO ANNOUNCES NEW INITIATIVE TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM BUYING
HUD-INSURED HOMES WITH UNDETECTED DEFECTS
{1.5 hours}
WASHINGTON – In a move to protect consumers from buying homes with major
undetected defects,
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today announced
a Homebuyer Protection
Initiative to improve home appraisals for over 1 million families who
purchase homes each year with
HUD-insured mortgages.
The landmark initiative will be phased into effect nationwide over the
next few weeks to give families
with mortgages insured by HUD’s Federal Housing Administration a higher
level of protection against
appraisals that fail to uncover the need for major repairs in homes
up for sale.
Cuomo said the consumer protection measure will save some individual
homebuyers thousands of
dollars each and will save homebuyers around the country millions of
dollars by giving them an early
alert to major problems in a home they are considering buying. FHA
will not insure a mortgage on a
home until defects uncovered by the improved appraisals are repaired.
“Our new FHA appraisals set a new standard for homebuyer protection,
making homebuying safer and
making an FHA mortgage a greater value,” Cuomo said. “We will do more
than any other mortgage
insurer to safeguard the interests of hard-working families buying
homes.”
Cuomo said the Homebuyer Protection Initiative has six key elements:
A new consumer education campaign about appraisals
and inspections conducted by HUD, the
National Association of Realtors, and the
Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
Mandatory testing of all appraisers to determine if they are qualified to perform FHA appraisals.
More thorough and reliable appraisals designed to uncover significant defects in homes.
Mandatory disclosure of detected home defects to homebuyers.
Automated evaluation of appraisals.
Stricter enforcement action to suspend poorly performing appraisers from working for FHA.
In addition, under the new initiative homebuyers will be required –
for the first time – to sign and date a
new informational form before they purchase a home with an FHA mortgage.
The form advises them in
plain English to get a home inspection in addition to an appraisal.
FHA requires appraisals by state-licensed appraisers on all homes it
insures. FHA appraisals
determine the value of a home and include a limited review of the physical
condition of the home. No
other mortgage insurer or lender requires such a physical review.
Home inspections are much more detailed examinations that go beyond
assessing the basic
soundness and safety of a home, and HUD’s new form and public education
campaign will both
strongly urge homebuyers to get home inspections in addition to appraisals.
FHA mortgages allow
homebuyers to include appraisal and inspection costs in their mortgages.
The new initiative is being launched in response to problems with bad
appraisals that fail to detect
costly problems in homes before a purchase. Buyers are then often hit
with thousands of dollars in
unexpected repairs after they move into a home. In some cases, buyers
have as a result defaulted on
their mortgages and sometimes declared bankruptcy.
Cuomo said the new initiative represents a package of far-reaching reforms
conceived last year when
HUD set out to dramatically reinvent the FHA home appraisal process.
FHA does not make mortgage loans directly, but rather insures loans
made by private lenders to
homebuyers. FHA insurance guarantees the lender timely payment of the
outstanding loan balance, in
the event the homebuyer defaults on the loan. Because FHA mortgage
insurance protects lenders
from losses, it enables many Americans who otherwise would have been
unable to quality for
mortgages to get the loans and become homeowners. Over its six-decade
history, FHA has made
homeownership available to about 30 million families.
Today’s announcement was part of National Homeownership Week, which
will continue through
Saturday. More than 1,200 events are taking place across the country
to mark Homeownership Week,
which celebrates the fact that 69.6 million American families own homes
– more than at any time in
American history. This is 7.8 million more families than when the Clinton-Gore
Administration took
office in 1993. The percentage of families owning their homes jumped
from 64 percent in 1993 to 66.7
percent in the first quarter of this year.
Here are more details of the six key elements of the Homebuyer Protection Initiative:
CONSUMER EDUCATION
A new consumer education campaign about home appraisals and inspections
will be carried out in
cooperation with the National Association of Realtors and the Mortgage
Bankers Association of
America, under a new Memorandum of Understanding signed by the groups
and HUD.
NAR represents 730,000 Realtors around the nation and the MBA represents
3,000 mortgage lending
companies.
“I commend the NAR and the MBA for working with HUD to better inform
homebuyers about the
appraisal process and the importance of getting a home inspection,”
Cuomo said.
NAR and MBA will use their publications and websites to educate consumers
about the Homebuyer
Protection Initiative. The groups will also urge Realtors and lenders
to provide informational material to
customers and to discuss the importance of an inspection with homebuyers.
NAR and MBA will work
with HUD to develop a new consumer brochure, posters and other educational
materials.
APPRAISER TESTING
The Homebuyer Protection Initiative includes the first HUD-mandated
testing of the approximately
30,000 private appraisers around the nation who perform mandatory appraisals
before the sale of every
home financed with an FHA mortgage. Appraisers flunking the test will
not be certified to do FHA
appraisals until they pass the exam.
The exam will help ensure that appraisers know and understand FHA requirements.
MORE THOROUGH AND RELIABLE APPRAISALS
The Homebuyer Protection Initiative mandates a more thorough appraisal
that requires the appraiser to
complete a new three-page form describing the physical condition of
a home in unprecedented detail.
HUD will give appraisers a handbook explaining the new appraisal standards.
Areas covered by the more thorough appraisals include: problems with
plumbing, walls, ceilings, roofs,
foundations, basements, electrical systems, and heating and air-conditioning
systems; soil
contamination; the presence of wood-destroying insects; hazards and
nuisances near homes (such as
oil and gas wells); lead-based paint hazards; and other health and
safety problems.
Here’s an example of the additional details required under the new appraisals:
Until now, appraisers
needed only to note that structural deficiencies exist in a home. Under
the new initiative, appraisers
must note the exact deficiencies – such as cracks in floors, cracks
in walls and ceilings, evidence of
water leakage, and evidence of damaged support structures.
DISCLOSURE OF HOME DEFECTS
Under the Homebuyer Protection Initiative, homebuyers with FHA mortgages
must receive a new form
written in plain English that summarizes all defects found by the appraisal
before they purchase a
home. The homebuyer cannot receive an FHA mortgage until all defects
found by the appraiser have
been corrected – protecting the homebuyer from being hit with the repair
costs.
AUTOMATED EVALUATION OF APPRAISALS
HUD will establish a system that enables the Department to collect appraisal
data electronically and
track trends in appraisal quality. The system is currently being piloted
in Pennsylvania and will be
implemented nationwide by the end of the year.
The new system will enable HUD to perform high-speed computer-generated
reviews of the
performance of all appraisers, so that appraisers found to make inaccurate
appraisals can be spotted
and targeted for further review and possible enforcement action.
HUD has developed a series of statistical indicators to help target
its appraiser oversight activities,
particularly field review activities. The indicators work by comparing
home values derived by appraisers
and the techniques used to establish the values. Individual indicators
are then rolled into a single
appraisal score using a statistically derived weighting system.
STRICTER AND CLEARER ENFORCEMENT
A new appraiser enforcement regulation will give FHA the ability to
swiftly suspend poorly performing
appraisers from doing business with FHA. This will protect homebuyers
from bad appraisers.
COMMENTS ON HUD’S HOMEBUYER PROTECTION INITIATIVE
Sharon A. Millet, President, National Association of Realtors – “Under
this program, Realtors and
lenders will play an integral role in helping FHA buyers understand
the importance of a home
inspection and the difference between an appraisal and an inspection.
Homebuyers will gain a better
understanding of the appraisal and home inspection processes and be
able to protect themselves from
buying properties in need of extensive repairs.”
Donald Lange, President, Mortgage Bankers Association of America – “The
HUD plan is a
significant step toward protecting FHA borrowers. It demonstrates HUD’s
leadership as an advocate
for homebuyers, and that this commitment is shared by the mortgage
lending and real estate
industries.”
Bert Thornton, President, Appraisal Institute – “We believe that homeownership
is fundamental to
the prosperity and unity of our society. Secretary Cuomo is to be congratulated
for his dedication to
this proposition. As appraisal professionals, we are especially pleased
to have been able to contribute
to this initiative. It has been our pleasure to work with him and all
the dedicated professionals at HUD
to advance opportunities for all.”
Frank Torres, Legislative Counsel, Consumers Union – “Secretary Cuomo
deserves considerable
credit for his continuing efforts to make the homebuying process better
and fairer for all. It is important
that consumers be made aware of the condition of the house they are
considering to buy. This
proposal, we feel, is a major step is that direction.”
Tom Downs, Executive Vice President and CEO, National Association of
Home Builders – “The
National Association of Home Builders applauds Secretary Cuomo for
the steps HUD is taking to
strengthen the FHA appraisal process and better inform homebuyers.
These measures will help
ensure the continued success of the FHA single-family mortgage insurance
program, which we feel is
a cornerstone of the country’s mortgage finance system.”