The U.S. House of Representatives advanced legislation designed to make it easier for homebuyers to purchase a home with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage.
The Homebuyer Assistance Act of 2021 (H.R. 3008) would reduce the number of hurdles that appraisers currently face before they are allowed to perform appraisals for home purchases financed by an FHA mortgage.
This would be accomplished by bringing federal standards for FHA appraisers in line with the federal minimum requirements already in place for other home mortgages, particularly those purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“The process of purchasing a home is already difficult enough for first-time, low-income, and minority homebuyers. They do not need the added challenge of finding a certified appraiser,” U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA, the bill’s sponsor, said. “This legislation is a commonsense revision to current appraisal requirements which will make FHA mortgages accessible to more Americans.”
Rep. Van Taylor (R-TX) also sponsored the bill.
This change to the Homebuyer Assistance Act would help address the current shortage of certified appraisers that some parts of the country are currently facing. In a 2017 survey, about 75 percent of appraisers cited regulatory burdens as a leading reason they would leave the field. Further, the lack of appraisers for FHA-insured mortgages has a disproportionately large impact on first-time homebuyers, as well as low- and moderate-income households and people of color.
Specifically, more than 83 percent of FHA mortgages for the purchase of a home in 2020 were obtained by first-time homebuyers, and more than one-third of all FHA loans were obtained by minority households.