Written By: Stacey Sprain, Op-Ed Writer
I usually check HUD’s Mortgagee website at least once daily for any signs of newly issued Mortgagee Letters that haven’t yet been announced. Today I see that Mortgagee Letter 2009-42 is posted and the subject is Sub-Servicing of FHA-Insured Mortgages.
Now if you’re like me, you take a look at the subject line, realize it doesn’t apply to your daily business and cruise right on past it and on to whatever else you’ve been working on. For some odd reason, I took a minute to read through this one and wow! I am absolutely blown away! Whoever wrote this communication is my new hero. I am hoping we see content written this way on other Mortgagee Letters as they are issued in the future. The verbiage is easy to read, easy to understand and gets straight to the point which isn’t always the case with Mortgagee Letters. Often I start to read one and find myself chomping at the bit just trying to find the time and patience to hash through it and decipher the exact message.
I must say, I’m quite impressed by HUD’s efforts recently. We recently learned that HUD has assigned “account liaisons” to mortgagees. These liaisons are person we can turn to with questions, for clarifications, for guidance and direction. I have been very pleased with the liaison I have had the pleasure of working with. I hope that you have perhaps been introduced to and have had the opportunity to meet and greet with your assigned account liaison as well.
As we all know, HUD also updated our “bible” earlier this year as well. The 4155 handbook is a wonderful tool now that we can search the PDF copy by topic to nail down the information we are specifically looking for.
HUD has also obviously been hard at work reformatting and updating the many websites and online resources we have come to depend on over the years. The updated sites have a much more modern look and fresh feel to them. Gone are the older mainly red colored sites which have since been transformed into a much fresher and more appealing. If you haven’t had the opportunity as of yet, go ahead and check outwww.hud.gov which is a great example of updating. You’ll notice thatwww.fha.gov has changed also. The FHA website is now a sub-site of the main HUD website. Originators and processors will find a majority of our usually needed information linked under the Resources topic tab at top of the page.
If you’re like many folks I know, myself included, you’ve become a social networking junkie in which case, check out these cool new HUD pages!
HUD on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/HUD
HUD on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opahud/
HUD on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/HUDchannel
HUD on Twitter:http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/FHA_Home/twitter
FHA Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Housing_Administration
One thing is for certain, I am liking all of these changes! They’ve been long awaited and I’m certainly pleased with the progress!
About The Author
Stacey Sprain - As an op-ed writer, Ms. Stacey Sprain is currently a NAMP® Certified Ambassador Loan Processor (NAMP®-CALP). With over 15+ years of mortgage banking experience, Stacey is also a Quality Control Manager for a major mortgage lending institution.
