We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of the Assisted Living Conversion Program. We initiated the audit as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2012 annual audit plan, which included contributing to the improvement of HUD’s execution of and accountability for fiscal responsibilities. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of its Assisted Living...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Program based on our annual audit plan and our strategic goal to improve the integrity of HUD’s single-family insurance programs. This is the second of two reports that we issued on HUD’s oversight of the Program. Our objective was to determine whether HUD controls prevented borrowers from renting their properties...

We audited HUD's Region 3 Offices of Multifamily Housing to determine whether HUD ensured that rents and excess income for Section 236 properties were properly identified and remitted to HUD. We performed this audit based on our audit plan and problems identified during an external audit of a Section 236 property located in Washington, DC. HUD's Region 3 Offices of Multifamily Housing generally ensured that Section 236...

We audited Prysma Lending Group, LLC, a nonsupervised lender, located in Danbury, CT, in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal of improving the integrity of the single-family insurance program. We selected Prysma for audit because its 3.28 percent default rate for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single-family loans with beginning amortization dates...

In conjunction with our external audit of Innotion Enterprises, Inc. (Audit Report #2012-LA-1010), we reviewed termite inspection passthrough costs that it submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for payment as part of its real estate-owned (REO) Management and Marketing III (M&M III) program field service manager contract. We selected Innotion’s Las Vegas, NV, branch based on the size and scope of...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited Allen Mortgage, Limited Liability Company, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) nonsupervised lender. We selected Allen Mortgage for audit based on its high default and claim rate for the FHA-insured loans sponsored in Region 5. Our objectives were to determine whether (1) Allen Mortgage complied with HUD’s regulations, procedures, and...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Mortgage Now Inc., a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved nonsupervised direct endorsement lender approved to originate, underwrite, and submit mortgages for insurance. We selected Mortgage Now based on its compare ratio of 223 percent for a 2-year FHA performance period. Its average compare ratio for the loans originated in our...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) completed its nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Ally Financial, Incorporated, Bank of America, CitiMortgage, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo Bank). We performed these reviews due to reported allegations made in the fall of 2010 that national...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the Utah Housing Corporation in response to a hotline complaint. The complaint contained allegations that the Corporation commingled funds from the FHA first mortgages and the downpayment assistance second mortgages and serviced the second mortgages before the FHA first mortgages by using the first mortgage payments to pay the second...

We conducted a limited review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Shea Mortgage, Inc. We selected the lender based on the results of an auditability survey, which determined that Shea Mortgage allowed prohibited restrictive covenants to be filed against FHA-insured properties. The objective of our review was to determine the extent to which Shea Mortgage failed to prevent the recording of prohibited...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited HUD’s oversight of its real estate-owned (REO) Management and Marketing (M&M) III program in response to a HUD OIG auditability survey on REO contract administration. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD’s policies and procedures provided for efficient and effective oversight of asset managers and field service...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Preforeclosure Sale Program. Our objective was to determine whether FHA paid claims for only preforeclosure sales that met the criteria for participation in the program. We found that 61 of 80 statistically selected claims from September 1, 2010, through August 31, 2011 did not meet the criteria...

We audited loans originated by Bankers Mortgage Group, Woodland Hills, CA, in response to a referral from the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Investigation alleging that Bankers Mortgage Group originated loans with false documentation. Our objective was to determine whether the lender originated FHA-insured loans using sufficient, reliable, and valid documentation. Bankers Mortgage Group did not originate loans using...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) real estate-owned (REO) Management and Marketing (M&M) III program at Innotion Enterprises, Inc., to determine whether Innotion performed property preservation and protection services according to contract requirements. The review was part of our efforts to improve the integrity of the single-family insurance programs. We selected Innotion’s Las Vegas, NV,...

he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Gruening Park Apartments, a 96-unit apartment complex in Juneau, AK, owned and operated by Alaska Housing Development Corporation, Inc., to determine whether the owner administered the project and its programs in compliance with the regulatory agreement and other HUD requirements. We selected this project primarily due to its having a...

Based on a request by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) multifamily housing Kansas City hub office, we started an audit of three related nursing facilities on August 2008: • Bartlesville Health Care Center, Inc., doing business as Silver Lake Care Center; • Mannford Health Care Center, Inc., doing business as Cimarron Pointe Care Center; and • Owasso Nursing Center, Inc., doing...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans. We initiated the audit as part of the activities in our 2011 annual audit plan and strategic plan. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of lenders’ compliance with FHA’s underwriting...

We audited Weststar Mortgage Corporation, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) nonsupervised direct endorsement lender located in Albuquerque, NM. We selected Weststar for review based on a risk assessment of lenders in New Mexico. Our objective was to determine whether Weststar complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and FHA loan origination requirements for loans on which the borrowers defaulted and...

We performed an audit of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling based on a citizen’s complaint alleging that it misused Federal funds. Our objective was to determine whether the Foundation complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements when administering its housing counseling program. The complaint alleging that the Foundation misused Federal funds could not be substantiated. The Foundation...

We audited the West Village Expansion Project in Durham, NC, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 220-insured property, due to a citizen’s hotline complaint. The anonymous complainant alleged that the managing member of the project’s ownership entity spent an excessive amount of project funds on legal fees, transferred more than $500,000 to another entity owned by it, and failed to keep the mortgage current...