VanDyk Mortgage News: February 3, 2023

February 3, 2023

• Sales Fly-in 

It’s less than a month away – have you finalized your Fly-in plans yet?   TODAY is the deadline to sign up for your preferred breakout sessions.  Please follow this LINK and sign up for your optional sessions by Friday, February 3rd. If you do not sign up by this deadline, breakout sessions will be chosen for you (don’t worry – they are ALL great options)!

• LLPAs

Effective with loans locked February 15th and beyond the new Loan Level Price Adjusters (LLPAs) grids will be active in OB. Any loan locked prior to February 15th will need to fund by April 14th to avoid the additional LLPAs applying to the loans. See attached for formal announcement, LLPA comparison Excel, and Fannie Mae LLPAs.

With this change, we will implement a requirement for proof of property taxes (tax cert/property tax bill) to our minimum UW submission standards when there is a subject property.  If a tax certificate is not available or the home is new construction, the loan can be submitted to UW if a 1.5% of appraised value factor is used to calculate property taxes.

• • Brad Chatel will be holding a Teams call on 2/8 at 2:30pm EST to discuss LLPA changes, LLPA waivers for AMI/FTHB, and other LLPA related items.

• Reverse Mortgage Updates    

We are now approved as a Principal Agent with FAR for Reverse Mortgages! The Reverse Team can assist you with questions, scenarios, proposals etc., and we are able to broker HomeSafe to FAR.  With AAG and FAR as our two in-house PA options for reverse mortgages and the ability to offer the conventional HomeSafe loan on the broker side again, we are looking forward to seeing an uptick in volume in the coming months. Contact your VanDyk Mortgage Reverse Team (Sophie Morales, Kristine Kuss, Adam Wilson) with questions or if you need assistance!

• eNotes

We will soon begin including eNotes in our hybrid eClosing packages. An eNote is an electronically signed version of our Note that can be eSigned via Simple Nexus. Including an eNote will not significantly change the hybrid eClose workflow, but will take us one step closer to a full eClosing!

• Update on Buydowns   

We have closed a handful of buydown loans and are making a minor adjustment to the closing packages for these loans:

• Per investor requirements, the buydown period payments will no longer be reflected on any documents outside of the buydown agreement and the first payment letter.  Be sure you discuss this with your borrowers to ensure they understand the buydown is temporary and will only be reflected on the initial buydown disclosure and first payment letter.  The closing documents including the CD will not reflect the bought-down rate or payment.

• Tennessee Housing Fee Updates

Effective with loans locked on or after March 1: Tennessee Housing is updating their fee structure. TN Housing loans will need to have 1% origination and $1,400 in customary fees charged. On the back end, the branch will make 1% plus the 1% in origination.

• Minimum Standards for Submission to UW: Updated!

Due to the implementation of the LLPA hits for DTIs over 40%, and to prevent any last-minute hiccups (such as needing to redisclose a fee increase), we are adding the Tax Bill/estimate as part of our Minimum Standards for Submission into Underwriting for any loans with a property address.  If you do not have a tax bill or estimate, please use 1.5% of the purchase price or value as a default in Encompass for properties outside of Nevada.  Nevada is defaulted to 1%.  This will be effective for all loans submitted into Underwriting on and after Monday, February 6, 2023.

• Condo Review Update

Before you email the Condo Department or submit a request for Condo Review, don’t forget to check the Condo Approval list in Howee to see if your project is already approved.  If the project is on the Fannie approved list, all we need is the master insurance (we don’t even need a questionnaire).  If you email the Condo Department with documentation that is not required for the review and it “opens a can of worms,” we cannot close the can without additional review and documentation.

• Broker Loan Compensation

VanDyk has contractual compensatory agreements with the lenders we broker loans to. When locking your loans, you will need to ensure the minimum compensation is met. This document will help you understand the difference between Lender and Borrower paid compensation, the two options given by the lenders in their various pricing engines. Please review Locking a Brokered Loan – Compensation, attached, for more details.

• Income Documentation Updates

For applications dated on or after 1/31/2023, OR loans with a note date on or after 2/15/2023: 2022 W2s OR a Written VOE will be required.

• • Final VOEs are now required prior to CTC:  Updated Final Verbal VOE Cheat Sheet is attached.
    Tax Transcripts Cheat Sheet:  Updated version for 2023 is attached.
  • Income Worksheet – LTK: Updated within Encompass to include tax year 2022.
  • LoanBeam: LoanBeam will begin accepting 2022 tax documents starting Monday, February 6.

We’ve also created a cheat sheet to reference when you’re looking for help calculating income on a file. Please see the attached PDF: Income Calculation Help.

• Borrower Summary 2023 Update

Encompass has some updates slated for release on February 16th which will impact this form.  We will roll out our updated Borrower Summary 2023 Encompass form and hold training sessions after this release date – watch your email for invitations and additional information.

• Broker Partner Updates

Champions: Champions is a borrower paid-comp only outlet, but are still going to hit us with an EPO fee if a loan pays off with 180 days of funding. If you are using their Ally No Ratio program, the EPO extends to 360 days from funding. Champions wants to make it clear that their Ally product is not to be used for short term funding, which is the reason for the 360 day timeframe.

Flagstar: Flagstar updated their Doctor Program to include additional licenses/occupations in the medical field. Please see the attached Broker Update email with more details about this program!

Go Mortgage: Go Mortgage, one of our One Time Close Construction outlets, requires all team members to complete a training prior to receiving credentials to log in. To make this easier, we have scheduled two sessions with Go Mortgage that you can join in order to receive your credentials. Invitations were sent on Friday, 2/3 – if you did not receive and would like to attend, please email ProductionSupport@vandykmortgage.com

• SimpleNexus Update: Soft Credit Pulls

The highly anticipated day has arrived!  Once your access is set up, you will be able to obtain a 1-bureau soft pull in Simple Nexus with the click of a button.  Instead of accessing the Sarma website and entering borrower data manually, simply locate your borrower’s application in SN and click the “Soft Credit Check” button. Easy!
Important note: You will not have the ability to pull both soft AND hard credit within SimpleNexus – it is one or the other. Starting today, Production Support will be working through getting access to users, and will be reaching out to your branch manager once this feature is ready for your team.

• Speaking of Soft Pulls…

Please remember: soft pulls are not imported into Encompass or used to run AUS. There is no liability report to be imported. They are not to be used for qualifying. If you have any questions, reach out to Production Support.

• SimpleNexus: Partner Portal

Just a reminder that Loan Officers have a “share” link available to get connected to realtors/agents within SimpleNexus. You can find this link under Contacts > Partners. We attached an overview of what the agent sees on the SimpleNexus side, and you can watch a demo of the Partner portal here. If you have any questions, reach out to Production Support.

• UDM Monitoring Update

If you ever run into the issue where your UDM is not monitoring, and you do not have time to wait for it to turn on and start running to meet your ECD, we have an option to provide a no FICO tri-merge “refresh” soft pull within 10 days of closing.  For additional details or assistance, reach out to Production Support.

• Appraisals in Depreciating Markets

For Citi Jumbo loans and NewRez NonQM files, appraisals that come back with a property value showing “declining”/Declining Market, the maximum LTV/CLTV will be reduced by 5%. We anticipate other investors may follow suit – we will pass along updates as we receive them.

• What is Fraud? A Message from Patty Lacey

Mortgage fraud – including occupancy and income fraud – has become more prevalent over time and is a particular concern during an economic recession. Upheaval in housing markets, homeowners facing financial difficulties and unscrupulous persons looking for easy money all contribute to a climate in which mortgage fraud may occur. Current statistics indicate that 1 in every 109 mortgage applications show indications of fraud. For more details, review the “What is Fraud” attachment.

Agency Updates

Fannie Mae

• IMPORTANT! Fannie has followed suit to Freddie Mac!  Cash-Out Seasoning is changing to 12-months for loans with note dates on and after April 1, 2023.  This will be measured by the note date of the existing loan to the note date of the new loan.  We will be implementing this for Note Dates on and after March 27, 2023 to allow a buffer.  (As a Reminder, Freddie Mac Cash-Out Seasoning changes to 12-months for loans with note dates on and after March 7, 2023.)
• For additional Fannie Mae enhancements, see attached Selling Guide FNMA SEL 2023-01.

Freddie Mac

• Freddie Max has expanded the appraisal eligibility requirements to allow desktop appraisals for certain HomePossible Mortgages that are purchase transactions.  Follow your LPA Findings on appraisal requirements – Your aiUnderwriter will help with this, too!

FHA

• FHA has updated the Handbook 4000.1 in multiple areas of Section II – Origination through Post-Closing/Endorsement.  Attached is a quick comparison of the old vs new.  In addition to this, the Form 1004MC (Market Conditions Addendum) has been eliminated to align with the GSEs and VA.  For updated version of the 4000.1 HUD Handbook, visit https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/OCHCO/documents/4000.1hsgh-011823.pdf. All updates are highlighted.

VA

• 2023 Loan Limit Calculator is attached

Upcoming Events and Reminders

If you need an invitation to one of the Zoom meetings listed below, please respond to this message or email ProductionSupport@vandykmortgage.com

• Iron Sharpens Iron: Tuesday, February 21 @ 11am Eastern
• VanDyk Mortgage Newscast: Friday, February 10 @ 1pm Eastern
• Production Roundtable: Tuesday, February 21 @ 2pm Eastern

35^th Anniversary Events

March 2 – 4, 2023 | Annual Sales Fly-in

Occupancy Check!

Did you know that investors are being scrupulous about checking on the borrowers after closing to ensure they are occupying the home?

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Employment Validation – Self-Employed – Fannie

Did you know you can receive Self Employment income validation in Fannie Mae’s DU when you have obtained tax transcripts from Dataverify?

Your SE income can also be validated in Freddie Mac’s LPA, if your LoanBeam is run though the Encompass interface.  Awesome!

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Credit Orders & Borrower Solicitation

As many teams are already aware, the amount of solicitation that borrowers receive after their credit is pulled has drastically increased.

It’s important to note that Sarma is not selling leads – brokers and lenders are buying leads from the bureaus. The only way to get out of not getting calls is to have the borrowers opt-out by visiting www.optoutprescreen.com  or calling 888-5OPT-OUT (888-567-8688). It does take about 5 days for this to be set up.
Some teams are taking the approach of doing a 1-bureau soft pull, and then having the borrower opt-out prior to doing the hard pull. Soft pull inquiries cannot be sold.