Opportunity to Protect Old Forest

Great news from Citizens to Preserve Overton Park: Rep. Jeanne Richardson and Sen. Beverly Marrero have sponsored legislation that will provide legal protection to the old growth forest of Overton Park!

Citizens to Protect Overton Park (CPOP) is asking that Memphians stand up for the Old Forest by writing letters supporting the bills, SB 2415 and HB 2563. Click HERE for more information and the names and e-mails of those to contact.

posted by Virginia @ 1/29/2010   --> posted on 1/29/2010 | Permalink | Back to Top

-->

Announced FHA Policy Changes:

1. Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending
   • The first step will be to raise the up-front MIP by 50 bps to 2.25% and request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that the FHA can charge.
   • If this authority is granted, then the second step will be to shift some of the premium increase from the up-front MIP to the annual MIP.
   • This shift will allow for the capital reserves to increase with less impact to the consumer, because the annual MIP is paid over the life of the loan instead of at the time of closing
   • The initial up-front increase is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released tomorrow, January 21st, and will go into effect in the spring.

2. Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers.
   • New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA's 3.5% down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10%.
   • This allows the FHA to better balance its risk and continue to provide access for those borrowers who have historically performed well.
   • This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February and, after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.

3. Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%
   • The current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value. This change will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards on seller concessions.
   • This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in the early summer.

4. Increase enforcement on FHA lenders
   • Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data - Will be available on the HUD website on February 1.
     • This is an operational change to make information more user-friendly and hold lenders more accountable; it does not require new regulatory action as Neighborhood Watch data is currently publicly available.
   • Enhance monitoring of lender performance and compliance with FHA guidelines and standards.
     • Implement Credit Watch termination through lender underwriting ID in addition to originating ID.
     • This change is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released tomorrow, January 21st, and is effective immediately.
   • Implement statutory authority through regulation of section 256 of the National Housing Act to enforce indemnification provisions for lenders using delegated insuring process
     • Specifications of this change will be posted in March, and after a notice and comment period, would go into effect in early summer.
   • HUD is pursuing legislative authority to increase enforcement on FHA lenders. Specific authority includes:
     • Amendment of section 256 of the National Housing Act to apply indemnification provisions to all Direct Endorsement lenders. This would require all approved mortgagees to assume liability for all of the loans that they originate and underwrite
     • Legislative authority permitting HUD maximum flexibility to establish separate "areas" for purposes of review and termination under the Credit Watch initiative. This would provide authority to withdraw originating and underwriting approval for a lender nationwide on the basis of the performance of its regional branches

Read entire press release at http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advis...

This information was more than I could handle.  I was not prepared for what was being said.  My reason for attending was to learn the basics of twitter and build confidence.  Ok, my expectations and reality were worlds apart and it took me a while to get over it. 

There is so much more to twitter than answering the question:  ”What are your doing” which has recently been changed to “What’s happening”.  If you plan to incorporate twitter in your business and want your followers to read your tweets because you have something to say that is important to them, you really have to know more than I wanted to know.  That’s a fact and it takes many hours of research on your own to get there.  Or does it?

I still believe that a group can gather, start with the basics, become familiar with terms and build confidence within a group workshop.  I am confident a beginner group workshop will result in saving lots of time and research for all.  To date one does not exist.  The knowledge you need is online in twitter manuals and YouTube videos but time management is the problem for most of us. 

With full-time jobs – whatever field – how do you “get up to speed”, as Joe Spake says, before you jump in and test the water.  I don’t think we have the luxury of testing the waters in business.  Our reputation is too important to make mistakes or tweet something that draws a lot of negative comments to our business.  Worse yet, our message might be ignored totally and we won’t be able to figure out why.  We need to know the whys first so we can target, be effective and manage our time.

If you have the money, you can hire a consulting firm to do all this for you.  Some of my business associates have this budget.  Most do not.  Small businesses, start-ups and sole proprietors along with mid-level corporate employees and managers – even upper-level management and owners of large firms – need a fast track to get them started.  Hands on participation to get there is essential.  The need for this is simply because of the urgency to get the information then quickly become productive without hours and hours of research or trial and error.

My goal is to stop everything, read the user manuals, find the answers and then share them in a logical, step by step manner that will bring a group up to speed all at the same time.  Learn together, build together and grow together is on my blog banner.  This is the example I need to follow. 

If you are advanced and want to know about searching twitter, management applications like TweetDeck and Seesmic or search statical data from TweetGrid, Klout and TweetBeep, (this was just the first quarter of the outline!)  Social Web Learning has a training class that will blow you away.  There is so much information in the outline that  Joe couldn’t get through it in two hours.  We will be extending it to four hours next time.  Fabulous outline for experienced users who want to take their twitter experience to the next level.  I was blown away.  He lost me in the first half hour.   I was in over my head and I hate it when that happens. 

I don’t want to feel that uninformed ever again.  I pledge to do my research, read the manuals and outline a group workshop that beginners can enjoy.  If you think this is a good idea, thank Joe Spake for showing me the way and forcing me to do my homework.  I’m hoping it will benefit many and that  Joe will agree to teach those of us who are at my level.  I know he will – he always agrees to help anyone who wants to learn about social media.  We just have to tell him what we need.

There will be a new descriptive name for the existing, advanced course and it will be scheduled again soon for those who are at that level.  Email or comment if you want to be notified for this “blow you away” session.  Beginners – hold on, your class is coming.

ShareThis

-->

Tagged as: corporate employee, Joe Spake, Social Media Tools, time management, twitter, twitter workshop, youtube

Via Sheila Hensley - Social Web Learning http://socialweblearning.com