Flush with cash from several strong years in a row, the Federal Housing Administration plans to roll out a number of "new products and ideas." in its fiscal 2001 budget.

Specifics of the FHA's agenda won't be known until Feb. 7 when the White House releases its proposed budget for fiscal 2001, so details are sketchy. But Assistant HUD Sec. William Apgar says "a wide array" of new programs are in the pipeline, including some specifically design to promote the production of new units.

Apgar, who doubles as the Federal Housing Commissioner, wouldn't reveal many details. But he said the various FHA insurance funds are making so much money that the profits must be reinvested in a host of new initiatives.

"Our front-to-back look at our business processes are starting to pay off," he said. "We not only improved our services, we've also improved our bottom line."

In fiscal 1999 alone, the FHA insured nearly 1.3 million loans worth a total of $125 billion.

The basic Section 203b insurance fund has come a long way since the days when it was "skirting negative equity," the federal housing official added. It's now "in the strongest financial position ever."

The multi-family insurance fund is in far better shape, too. So much so that "it's time put (it) back to work" as well.

Among the new initiatives will be one that will "link" the government's hospital and health care programs to the basic FHA insurance fund, Apgar disclosed. In an attempt to improve appraisals, another will created an automated monitoring system to identify appraisers who consistently do poor work.

The HUD official warned, however, than not all the new programs will work smoothly, at least not right away. Noting what he called Sec. Andrew Cuomo's "fire, aim, ready" management approach, he said the plan is to get the programs going right away and then fine-tune them.

Published: January 24, 2000

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.