Jay Wright Quoted in National Mortgage News on HUD Rescinding 12 FHA Policies

Bradley attorney Jay Wright was quoted in National Mortgage News on recent recissions the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made to 12 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) policies. The 12 retractions were made in a series of five mortgagee letters.

A separate letter, 2025-19, removed "mandatory pre-endorsement inspection requirements for properties located in presidentially declared major disaster areas." Those inspections required the use of an FHA-approved appraiser and reportedly led in some instances to a "lengthy waiting period."

Those disaster area declarations were not "super specifically tailored," said Wright.

The rule change allows borrowers to avoid the "laborious process" of getting an FHA roster appraiser. But this specific revision doesn't let the lender off the hook, Wright explained, noting the mortgagee letter points to other HUD regulations that shows if the property is damaged, it's going to be surchargable to the lender. 

Still for all of these revisions, "I've got every confidence that HUD was looking at this through the lens of what is the net impact to the [Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund], and if they concluded that it was that it was marginal at best, but it's going to allow people to buy houses more quickly and more easily," Wright said.

The move is consistent with the Trump administration's directive to eliminate regulatory burdens largely imposed on borrowers, as well as lenders in certain instances, Wright concluded.

"The idea is to get as many people into the nation's existing housing stock as they can," Wright said. "These are not changes that are fundamentally overhauling creditworthiness of borrowers but they do eliminate some of the paperwork and some of the difficulties that an FHA borrower was going to have to go through in order to obtain the kind of loan that is geared primarily for first-time home buyers."

The full article, “HUD rescinds 12 FHA policies: What home lenders need to know,” was published by National Mortgage News on July 1, 2025. (login required)