FHA Appraisals in Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania…

If you need an FHA real estate appraiser in the Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania for a purchase or refinance, we can help you. Jeffrey Scott Jacobs is a State Certified private residential appraiser and is on the FHA/HUD approved appraiser roster.

Why an FHA Appraisal?

Recent changes in the HUD FHA program have made a significant and important contribution to the mortgage market for new purchases and for the refinancing of existing mortgages, increasing the opportunities for home ownership and offering relief for home owners faced with unaffordable mortgages or tax burdens. This is a response to predatory lending practices and the increasing number of foreclosures across the country. A new program has been created to help homeowners and is known as the FHA Secure Initiative.

Jeffrey Scott Jacobs is committed to providing competent, fair and honest appraisals to assist with these efforts, and is committed to equal housing opportunity for all.

Why Go FHA?

Some lenders do not offer FHA and some salespeople discourage their buyers from using the program. This is largely due to some property restrictions (location, repairs, etc.) and up front seller costs of the past which no longer apply. Consider these changes and benefits:

With FHA there is no minimum FICO score requirement.

With FHA, if automated underwriting denies your file, that doesn't mean that you can't get the loan funded. The underwriter can make a manual decision on the file. This is the FHA advantage of flexibility of under writers discretion.

FHA allows up to 6% seller contributions and also allows temporary buy downs other programs do not allow.

Non traditional credit is also allowed through FHA and unlike Fannie Mae, one of the trade lines do not have to be rent. So you could potentially have a borrower living rent free with other forms of non traditional credit and still make the loan work.

FHA also doesn't have a maximum cap to the amount of income a borrower can make.

In the past a stigma with FHA was that the sellers ended up having to pay the majority of the closing costs, which is no longer the case. The only non allowable closing cost (cannot be paid by the borrower) is the tax service fee.

Lenders and sales agents also thought that with FHA it was more of a hassle because HUD would require all repairs even minor repairs to be fixed. This is no longer the true. The types of repairs required for FHA are now very similar to a conventional loan and many previously required inspections have been eliminated.

If the borrowers run into trouble and cannot make their payment HUD will work with the borrower on a repayment plan so they won't necessary go to foreclosure immediately.

If you are a direct lender or a mortgage broker that deals with FHA loans, Please call Jeff to discuss your FHA appraisal needs.