SHIP Program Details

Florida Housing Finance Corporation would like to thank you for your interest in becoming an approved lender in our First Time Homebuyer Program. In an ongoing effort to fulfill our mission of helping Floridians obtain safe, decent affordable housing that might otherwise be unavailable to them, we have adopted the following minimum guidelines for participation in our 2009 program.

• Mortgage Lenders - $500,000 Net Worth
• Correspondent Lenders - $250,000 Net Worth
• 2 Years Audited Financials
• Minimum of $300,000 E & O Bond
• Minimum of $50,000 Fidelity Bond
• Minimum of 2 years licensed physical office located in the state of FL
  • Same Tax ID # for 2 years
• All branch offices must be wholly owned subsidiaries of the parent company
  • No joint ventures, partnerships, affiliated branch structure, or DBAs
• Must be able to close loans in company name
• Must be able to originate both Government and Conventional Loans
• Must close and have purchased by Master Servicer a minimum of 8 loans per calendar year

All lenders are required to submit a fee schedule with their application. Only normal and customary closing costs are allowed to be charged. HUD-1s are audited quarterly and any lender found charging excessive fees is subject to reimbursement to borrower of excessive fees, non-purchase of loan by Master Servicer, or immediate suspension from the program.

Please note that no origination or discount points can be charged on any Florida Housing bond loan. Lenders will be compensated 1.5% of the loan amount at purchase by our Master Servicer, US Bank.

If you have reviewed the above requirements and would like to apply to become an approved participating lender, please email us at sandy.gaver@floridahousing.org. Once we receive your request, we will email you our lender application for completion and submission in January 2009, during our open enrollment period.

If you should have any questions, please contact us at 850-488-4198.