Since 1969, the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Title 1 program has insured mortgage loans made by private lending firms to finance the purchase of new or used manufactured homes (MH), designed to increase the availability of MH financing.

In a draft of the Title I section of its Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1, FHA consolidates existing guidance to provide FHA’s Title I lenders, appraisers, and other stakeholders with a comprehensive set of program guidelines.

A month prior to its release, on March 22, 2016, in testimony before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) pinpointed three issues with Title 1 that limit its usefulness in the MH Marketplace, as the MHI tells MHProNews.

1-origination fees policy fails to cover the costs of Title I loan originations.

2-appraisal requirements that do not work in the MH market because there are only 85 certified appraisers in the U. S. and they must be certified through the National Automobile Dealers Association.

3-”A need for better alignment of Title I underwriting standards with the single family Title II guidelines.”

MHI is preparing improvements to the Title 1 program during the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) open comment period which ends June 6, and welcomes comments from members. ##

(Image credit: Federal Housing Administration)

Article submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews.