The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Meeker Family and Elderly Housing project based on a referral from HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs in Denver, CO.  The project is owned and managed by the Meeker Housing Authority.  HUD alleged that the owner had failed to file audited financial statements or make mortgage payments to HUD for the past 10 years.  Our…

We audited Baker Tower Apartments, LLC (corporation), located in Denver, CO, based on data showing that the corporation had taken more than $3.4 million in owner distributions since 2013 and scored poorly on its most current Real Estate Assessment Center physical property inspection.  The objective of our audit was to determine whether the corporation complied with the regulatory agreement and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of The Retreat at Church Ranch bank records based on our audit conducted of the project.  Our review disclosed that the owner allegedly made payments for personal expenses from the project’s bank account.  We requested that HUD pursue proceedings against the owner. On July 22, 2015, HUD notified the owner of his proposed…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Homewood Terrace Mutual Homes’ Section 8 housing assistance payments program due to concerns over poor financial reporting and potentially inappropriate involvement by one of its board members.  Our objective was to determine whether Homewood Terrace conducted timely reexaminations, correctly calculated and requested assistance payments, and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of The Retreat at Church Ranch bank records based on our audit conducted of the project.  Our review disclosed that the owner allegedly made payments for personal expenses from the project’s bank account.  We requested that HUD pursue proceedings against the owner. On March 31, 2015, HUD filed a complaint seeking more than…

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of Opportunity in Living (OIL), Centennial, CO’s participation in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Property Disposition program.  Our audit objective was to determine whether OIL’s purchase of HUD-owned homes during the exclusive listing period violated HUD regulations at 24 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 291.  We determined that…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Redwood Juniper Tacoma Apartments to determine whether Redwood Juniper’s owner took an unauthorized distribution in excess of surplus cash, procured services in accordance with HUD rules and regulations, and maintained an auditable waiting list. We selected the multifamily housing project for audit because it appeared that the project owner took…

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

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed 46 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that Pierce Commercial Bank underwrote as an FHA direct endorsement lender. Pierce was a supervised FHA direct endorsement lender located in Tacoma, WA. This case was referred to us by OIG’s Office of Investigation. Our review objective was to determine whether Pierce underwrote 46 loans in…

We performed a review of 20 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Assurity Financial Services, LLC (Assurity). Our review objective was to determine whether Assurity underwrote the 20 loans in accordance with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements. This review is part of Operation Watchdog, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the…

We performed a review of 20 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Assurity Financial Services, LLC (Assurity). Our review objective was to determine whether Assurity underwrote the 20 loans in accordance with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements. This review is part of Operation Watchdog, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited Access National Mortgage Corporation (Access National) to determine whether it complied with HUD regulations, procedures, and instructions in originating, underwriting, and submitting for endorsement the FHA-insured loans selected for review. Access National generally complied with HUD regulations, procedures, and instructions in the origination and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Kier Property Management and Real Estate, LLC (Kier) to determine whether Kier properly accounted for property and management agent costs and properly accomplished its occupancy functions. Kier recorded more than $2 million in notes payable in the properties’ books for notes that did not properly restrict repayment of the principal to surplus cash…

We reviewed Bank of America's (servicer) home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) servicing division located in Seattle, Washington. Bank of America is one of the largest lenders of HECM mortgages for properties located in the five southwest states in the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Region VI jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the servicer complied with HUD regulations, specifically,…

We audited single-family loan originations at Eagle Home Mortgage (Eagle Mortgage), located in Kirkland, Washington, to determine whether it originated Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. Eagle Mortgage did not always originate FHA insured loans in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, Eagle Mortgage did not follow HUD's…

At the request of the Region X Multifamily Hub, we audited the John C Cannon Retirement and Assisted Living Residence (project) to determine if the project owner used project funds in accordance with the regulatory agreement. We found that the project owner failed to get HUD approval for leases costing $189,000, used project funds to obtain unneeded equipment costing $10,700, and failed to keep adequate documentation to support expenditures…

We audited late endorsement payment histories at Washington Mutual Bank (Washington Mutual), Seattle, Washington. We reported the results of our review in Audit Report 2005-SE-1006, issued on July 5, 2005. After the audit report was issued and the report recommendations were closed out in HUD’s Audit Resolution and Corrective Actions Tracking System (ARCATS), we recommended that HUD’s Office of General Counsel take additional sanctions against…

We audited A Plus Mortgage, Inc. (A Plus), to determine whether (1) the fees charged to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) borrowers by A Plus were appropriate under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), FHA, and Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) regulations and (2) the loan officers originating FHA-insured loans were employees of A Plus. A Plus disregarded HUD FHA requirements and provisions of RESPA and engaged…