Housing order is a first step, not an ‘immediate jolt,’ attorney says
Marty Green (pictured top), principal at Polunsky Beitel Green, said the industry should read the order as a start.
“For folks who were thinking there may be something that happens here that really has an immediate jolt to the industry, I don’t think you’re going to see that,” Green told Mortgage Professional America. “But over time, these things have the ability to make some lasting changes.”
Scope and timing
The order calls for lower interest rates, subject to available appropriations, on direct home loans made by the USDA and the VA. Green said the reach is limited.
“I think it’s helpful, but it is pretty limited when you really look at it, because when it talks about the Department of Agriculture and the VA, these are just the direct loans that they do,” Green said. “It’s not the ones that they insure. I think on the VA side, I think the direct lending is less than 1% of what they tend to insure in a given year.”
The mortgage insurance pilot has a defined scope too. It covers only newly made loans, which shapes both the audience and the timeline.
