[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 182 (Tuesday, September 20, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58291-58292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23970]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. FR-5484-N-31]


Notice of Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Local 
Appeals to Single-Family Mortgage Limits

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirement described 
below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department 
is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 21, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB 
Control Number and should be sent to: Reports Liaison Officer, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20410, Room 9120 or the number for the Federal 
Information Relay Service (1-800-877-8339).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Program Contact, Arlene Nunes, 
Director, Home Mortgage Insurance Division, Office of Single Family 
Program Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 
7th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410, telephone (202) 708-2121 (this 
is not a toll free number) for copies of the proposed forms and other 
available information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department is submitting the proposed 
information collection to OMB for review, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended).
    This Notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and 
affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of information to: 
(1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (2) Evaluate the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) Minimize the burden of the 
collection of information

[[Page 58292]]

on those who are to respond; including the use of appropriate automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses.
    This Notice also lists the following information:
    Title of Proposal: Local Appeals to Single-Family Mortgage Limits.
    OMB Control Number, if applicable: 2502-0302.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: HUD 
has allowed interested parties to submit appeals in support of higher 
loan amounts. HUD's current regulations for loan-limit appeals date 
back to the early 1980's. Section 203.18(b) of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) permits any party to request an alternative mortgage 
loan limit to the one established by the Secretary in any area of 
country at any time. The Federal Housing Administration originally 
issued Mortgagee Letter 95-27, dated June 2, 1995, which outlined the 
appeal process, and Mortgagee Letter 2007-01, dated January 3, 2007, 
subsequently re-emphasized the basic appeal process and added 
requirements for data used in non-disclosure states and an optional 
procedures for reviewing new construction sales data. At that time, 
there were no comprehensive, national data bases of home sale 
transactions. Appeals by interested parties were also an important part 
of the loan-limit determination process. Most often, requestors would 
provide lists of sales from local Multiple Listing Services, which were 
reviewed by local HUD field offices or, later, Homeownership Centers, 
for validity and use in updating loan limits.
    Starting in 2008, with the passage of the Economic Stimulus Act of 
2008 (ESA), HUD developed a new centralized procedure for managing and 
updating FHA loan limits. This procedure took advantage of newly 
available national data sources that compile sale transaction 
information from county deed recorders, using those data to compute 
median prices. Area median prices are the fundamental factor used to 
calculate maximum mortgage amounts. Having this data negates the need 
for appeals in covered areas because HUD already has access to complete 
information on home sales. Since 2008, the availability of 
comprehensive data has increased to where in 2010 it was available to 
HUD for over 2,000 of the more than 3,200 counties and county-
equivalent areas across the country. Counties for which these data are 
not readily available to HUD generally either have too few sale 
transaction to compute reliable median prices, or else are immaterial 
to the process because median prices are sufficiently below the level 
that would trigger eligibility for a ``high-cost area'' loan limits 
above the national floor. For thin-data counties, HUD uses indirect 
sources to compute median prices, relying instead upon a combination of 
information to develop best estimates of median prices/values that 
match the time period of the transaction data used for other counties.
    Since these new procedures took effect in 2008, under suspension of 
published regulations, the number of appeals received and accepted by 
FHA has dropped to zero. For the 2010 loan limits, only one appeal was 
received, and that was rejected because HUD already had comprehensive 
sale price data for the subject county. For the 2011 loan limits, no 
appeals were received. As a result, the need for an appeals process to 
inform HUD of local home price trends is no longer necessary.
    Agency form numbers, if applicable: None.
    Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, and hours of response: The number of burden hours is 119. The 
number of respondents is 17, which is based on the actual number of 
requests received since 2008. The number of responses is 17 and the 
frequency of response is one per appeal. The burden hour per response 
is 7. The Federal government burden has reduced over the past 3 years. 
In 2010, only one appeal was received but rejected due to HUD having 
sufficient data in support of loan limit. In 2011, no appeals were 
received.
    Status of the proposed information collection: This is an extension 
of a currently approved collection. HUD is still proceeding with the 
request for renewal of the subject information collection pending OMB's 
review and approval of HUD's request to eliminate regulations on the 
appeal process in its entirety.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C., 
Chapter 35, as amended.

    Dated: September 14, 2011.
Ronald Y. Spraker,
Associate General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing-Associate 
Deputy Federal Housing Commissioner.
[FR Doc. 2011-23970 Filed 9-19-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P