Rural home buyers have a great opportunity for safe, affordable mortgage financing through the Rural Housing Service, which has funds available until the end of September through its Direct Loan Program. That's the top story in The Voice for Real Estate, NAR's news video for the week of August 24. Other stories: Community lenders are finally getting back into commercial lending for small transactions, and the federal government has an online guide to walk real estate professionals through the coming closing process changes.
Featured segments:
- Rural Housing Service Direct Loan Program has funds available through Sept. 30 - 0:23
- Community lenders return to commercial lending for small deals - 1:42
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers online guide to coming closing process changes - 2:44
Get more on all the topics covered in this video:
- Sec. 502 Rural Housing Direct Loan Program
- Commercial lending improving
- Closing changes online guide
Voice for Real Estate 29: Transcript
Rural and Commercial Loans
Stephen Gasque Voice Over:
A great opportunity for households to get a mortgage loan if they live in a rural area
Commercial real estate is looking good—thanks to an improved lending
environment
And the federal government has resources to help you understand new closing rules
These stories and more on The Voice for Real Estate
Hi, I’m Stephen Gasque of the National Association of Realtors.
Between now and the end of September the federal Rural Housing Service has funds
available to make mortgage loans to 2,500 moderate-income home buyers with
down payments as low as 1 percent.
The loans are made through the Sec. 502 direct loan program. And unlike the more
familiar Sec. 502 guaranteed loan program, the Rural Housing Service is the actual
lender, not just the guarantor. That’s why it can make these safe and affordable
loans to responsible moderate-income households that otherwise would have
trouble qualifying for other financing. NAR’s Sarah Young has more.
[QUOTE]
To apply for a direct loan, your clients don’t ho to a lender; they go to the Rural
Housing Service field office in your area. You can find out where the one closest to
you is by going to the Rural Housing Service’s website and searching “field offices.”
[SWOOSH]
Since the economy started turning around five years ago commercial real estate has
been coming back but only modestly. This year, though, the recovery in office,
industrial, apartments, and other commercial sectors should see a big pick-up. The
reason? Lenders are finally getting back into making loans for small—under $5
million—deals, which comprise the bulk of commercial real estate transactions.
NAR’s chief economist, Lawrence Yun, explains.
[QUOTE]
More details on the state of commercial real estate will be featured in an NAR video
to be posted on Realtor.org shortly. We’ll be sure to direct you to that video in the
weeks ahead.
[SWOOSH]
Are you ready for the closing changes that take effect October third? If you’re not,
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has an online guide that you can use to
help you help your clients. It’s called “Know Before You Owe: The Real Estate
Professional’s Guide,” and it’s at ConsumerFinance.gov.
“Know Before You Owe” is what the agency calls its closing process changes it
introduced earlier his year and includes replacing the HUD- 1 and Good Faith
Estimate forms with new forms and it also includes changes to the closing process
itself.
NAR has produced several resources to help you get up ton speed, including our
hour-long webcast that walks you through all the changes. Now you can also access
the CFPB’s extensive guide.
[SWOOSH]
And that’s our show for the week of August 24. You can get more on everything we
talked about today at The Voice for Real estate page on Realtor.org. Thank you for
joining us, and be sure to join us again as we bring you the latest news on The Voice
for Real Estate.
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/know-before-you-owe/real-estateprofession...
