FHA is requiring lenders to submit to the EAD portal starting June 27, 2016.
You can see the full FHA Single Family Housing Appraisal Report and Delivery Guide here. We spotted a few recent updates to FHA's requirements, and want to share those to help you avoid "hard stop" errors and delays.
FHA Case Numbers
You may have heard FHA has a specific, rigid case number format (###-#######) without any additional text or number codes, and you heard correctly. Some lenders may not ask you for this right away because FHA is granting a short grace period where they are not stringently enforcing this requirement. However, they will be enforcing shortly after June 27th - less than 2 weeks away. Mercury Network already has checks in place to ensure that any FHA appraisal you submit has the correctly formatted case number for your client to submit to the EAD.
Abbreviation standards
FHA has defined the requirements for site size formatting on all forms:
- For square feet, use sf.
- For acres, use ac.
- For square meters, use sqm.
Prior sales price required
An FHA appraisal must have something in the prior sales price field for all forms. If the property was transferred without a consideration or is located in a non-disclosure state, the appraisal should show a 0 in the field.
Using major forms for 1004D
Lastly, when you are asked to supply a 1004D Appraisal Update (for instance, to extend the life of the FHA case number), make sure to use the major form if your software gives you the option between a major and minor form.
Preview the FHA EAD hard stops
For the full list of hard stops a lender might receive, take a look at the FHA fact sheet Hard Stop Checks and Error Messages.