Department of Housing and Urban Development December 28, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces that FHA is extending the availability of the temporary waiver of its regulation that prohibits the use of FHA financing to purchase single family properties that are being resold within 90 days of the previous acquisition, until December 31, 2012. This waiver, which was first issued in January 2010, took effect for all sales contracts executed on or after February 1, 2010, and was extended in February 2011. The waiver is set to expire on December 31, 2011, and therefore HUD is extending the waiver for another calendar year. Prior to the waiver, a mortgage was not eligible for FHA insurance if the contract of sale for the purchase of the property that is the subject of the mortgage is executed within 90 days of the prior acquisition by the seller and the seller does not come under any of the exemptions to this 90-day period that are specified in the regulation. As a result of the high foreclosures that have been taking place across the nation, FHA, through the regulatory waiver, encourages investors that specialize in acquiring and renovating properties to renovate foreclosed and abandoned homes with the objective of increasing the availability of affordable homes for first-time and other purchasers and helping to stabilize real estate prices as well as neighborhoods and communities where foreclosure activity has been high. While the waiver is available for the purpose of stimulating rehabilitation of foreclosed and abandoned homes, the waiver is applicable to all single family properties being resold within the 90-day period after prior acquisition, and was not limited to foreclosed properties. Additionally, the waiver is subject to certain conditions, and eligible mortgages must meet these conditions to take advantage of the waiver. The waiver is not applicable to mortgages insured under HUD's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Program.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.