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 civil division of the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office settled alleged violations of equity skimming against the owners of Heartland Health Care Center of Bethany. The equity skimming allegations stemmed from our December 2004 audit report outlining the misuse of funds. As a result of the combined efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s office; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), Offices of Audit and Investigation; and HUD’s Office of General Counsel, the owners paid $1.75 million to settle the allegations.

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 of the FHA Commissioner. The FHA Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim rates against the FHA insurance fund for failed loans.

The Miami-Dade Public Housing Agency (Agency) was awarded a $19.3 million capital fund formula grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. HUD's Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the Agency's capacity to administer its Recovery Act funds. The OIG found the Agency’s procurement procedures had weaknesses, staffing levels may be inadequate, and the Agency had not properly prioritized its ARRA funded activities.

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 reviewed 32 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that New Day Financial, LLC, underwrote as a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) FHA direct endorsement lender. We conducted the review as a result of a risk model assessment that identified mortgage lenders that were at high risk to cause losses to the FHA insurance fund. New Day was one of the lenders identified that made insurance claims within the first 2 years of insurance endorsement and underwrote loans that went into default within the first 90 days of endorsement.