- Your FHA case number does not belong to your lender. HUD Handbook 4000.1 says the original mortgagee must move it to the new one using the Case Transfer function in FHA Connection immediately upon your request. A lender cannot hold the file hostage because it wants to keep your business.
- The appraisal moves with the case number, and the handbook puts a five business day clock on it. The appraiser plays no part in that hand-off, and the report does not get re-addressed to the new lender.
- The widely repeated 30-day waiting period does not exist. It appears on several national pages. It does not appear anywhere in the current handbook, Update 18, issued August 12, 2026.
- Cancelling the case and pulling a fresh one is the expensive mistake. The handbook bars a lender from reusing an appraisal performed under a different case number, so a new case number means a new appraisal even if the existing one is only days old.
- If your lender stalls, HUD has an escalation path and you are not the one who uses it. HUD's own transfer template says any FHA-approved lender can request a transfer and that HUD will not process a request from borrowers. Your new loan officer files it.
You can change FHA lenders in the middle of a purchase, and in most cases your case number and your completed appraisal travel with you. HUD Handbook 4000.1 requires the original lender to assign the case number to the new lender through FHA Connection immediately once you ask, and to hand over the appraisal within five business days of your request. The case number also keeps its original assignment date, and that date is what fixes which year's FHA loan limit governs your file: for a one-unit home in a low-cost area, which is where Clark County sits, HUD set that limit at $541,287 for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. What you generally do not have to do is start the file over, and the one move that would force you to start over is cancelling the case number instead of transferring it.
That distinction is the whole subject. A case number transfer and a case number cancellation look similar from the outside and both end with a different lender working your file. Only one of them lets you keep the valuation you already paid for.
Below is what the current handbook actually says, read out of the source document rather than out of another lender's blog post, plus the timing question that decides whether a switch is survivable inside a Las Vegas escrow.
- Transfer the case number and you keep the file, the appraisal, and every date already banked against the case.
- Cancel the case number and pull a new one and you keep almost nothing on the valuation side, because the handbook forbids reusing an appraisal from another case number.
- The original lender must start the transfer immediately upon your request; the appraisal follows within five business days.
- The one thing that legitimately holds a transfer up is money: if the first lender was never reimbursed for the appraisal, it need not release the report until it is.
What is an FHA case number, and why does it matter when you switch lenders?
An FHA case number is the ten-digit identifier HUD assigns to your loan file through FHA Connection, the agency system every FHA-approved lender uses. It is not a formality. It is the spine the rest of your file hangs on, and once it exists your loan has an identity inside HUD's systems that is separate from the company that created it.
The handbook is specific about when a lender may create one. A case number can be obtained only when the lender already has an active mortgage application for you and the property, and to pull it the lender must supply your name, Social Security number and date of birth, the property address, and a certification that a live application exists. That is why your loan officer asks for a signed application before anything else happens: without it, there is no case number to pull.
Two consequences follow, and both of them matter the moment you consider changing lenders.
The first is that almost every FHA eligibility clock runs from the date the case number is assigned rather than from your closing date. If you have read our pages on FHA waiting periods after a foreclosure or short sale or the seasoning rules on an FHA cash-out refinance, you have already met this: the seasoning is measured backward from case number assignment. A case number that survives a lender change carries those satisfied clocks with it. A case number that is cancelled and re-pulled resets the assignment date, and for a borrower who only just cleared a waiting period that is not a paperwork detail. It can be the difference between eligible and not.
The second is that the appraisal is attached to the case number, not to the lender. That single fact is what makes a transfer worth doing properly, and it is the subject of its own section below.
Valley West takeThe most common misunderstanding we hear is that the case number is something the lender owns and grants. It reads that way from the borrower's chair, because the only person who can touch it in FHA Connection is a lender. But the handbook language points the other direction: the original lender must assign it on your request. The system access is the lender's. The file is yours.
Can you change FHA lenders in the middle of a purchase?
FHA rules place no minimum time on your file. Nothing in HUD's handbook requires you to stay with the lender that pulled your case number. There is no minimum time on file, no penalty period, and no FHA rule that makes a switch harder the later you do it. What changes as you get closer to closing is not your right to switch but the practical runway, which is a scheduling question rather than an eligibility one.
The relevant sentence in the handbook is short and unambiguous.
The original Mortgagee must assign the case number to the new Mortgagee using the Case Transfer function in FHAC immediately upon the Borrower's request.HUD, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1, section II.A.1.a.iii(B)(4)(a), Requirements for the Transferring Mortgagee, Last Revised 8/12/2026 · https://www.hud.gov/sites/default/files/Housing/documents/40001-hsgh-Update-18.pdf
Read that sentence for what it does not contain. It contains no waiting period, no lender discretion, no condition about how far along the file is, and no exception for a lender that has already spent money on underwriting. The obligation is on the original lender and the trigger is your request.
It is worth being precise about one thing this does not say. It doesn't say a lender must keep working your file, and it doesn't say a new lender must accept it. A transfer moves the FHA case; it does not oblige anyone to lend to you. Your new lender still underwrites you from the beginning on the credit side, which is covered further down.
The 30-day waiting period that is not in the handbook
FHA borrowers researching this will quickly meet a claim that a new lender has to wait 30 days after case number assignment before it can request a transfer, usually explained as a rule that stops lenders poaching files after a competitor has paid for an appraisal. It is a tidy story and it is repeated on several national pages.
It is not in the handbook. We searched the current edition, Update 18, issued August 12, 2026, for every occurrence of a 30-day period anywhere in the document. The phrase appears 188 times, attached to things like late mortgage payments in the 12 months before case number assignment and to claim filing deadlines after a property is sold. Not one of those occurrences sits in or near the section that governs transferring case numbers, and the transfer section itself contains no waiting language at all. The only timing word in it is immediately.
We are stating what the source document says rather than asserting that no such rule has ever existed in any form. Lenders do apply their own internal policies, and an individual company can decline to take on a file for its own business reasons. What a lender cannot do is present a company preference as an FHA requirement, and if you are told a federal rule forces you to wait, it is fair to ask which handbook section it lives in.
How does an FHA case number transfer actually work?
Mechanically it is a screen in FHA Connection, and the person who touches that screen is your current lender, not your new one. HUD's own FHA Connection help for the function states that a case and appraisal transfer can only be processed for a non-endorsed case by the originating lender or that lender's sponsor or agent, and that the lender must be currently on record for the case in HUD's origination system.
That is the detail that surprises most borrowers. The company you are leaving is the company that has to press the button. Your new lender supplies its FHA identification number so the file has somewhere to land, but it cannot reach into the system and pull the case across on its own.
The transferring lender enters the ten-digit case number, the new originator's FHA identification (or the sponsored originator's employer identification number), and the new sponsor or agent identification where one applies. It also chooses, from a simple yes or no dropdown, whether the property appraisal transfers with the case. That dropdown is worth naming out loud, because it is the single click that decides whether you pay for a second valuation.
The transfer is also dated. HUD's help text notes that the transfer date cannot be earlier than the date the case was established at case number assignment, nor later than the current date, so there is no backdating a transfer to repair a timeline.
| Item | Transfers with the case number? | What the handbook says |
|---|---|---|
| The FHA case number itself | Yes | The original lender must assign it to the new lender in FHA Connection immediately upon your request |
| The case number assignment date | Yes | The case is moved, not recreated, so every eligibility clock measured from assignment stays where it was |
| The completed appraisal | Yes, on request | The first lender must transfer it to the second within five business days of your request |
| Processing documents (verifications, disclosures, the file work already done) | Optional | The original lender may provide them but is not required to; it may negotiate a fee with the new lender, and may never charge you for the transfer of any documents |
| The underwriting decision | No | The new lender underwrites the file itself and applies its own overlays; an approval does not travel |
| Anything under a cancelled case number | No | A lender may not reuse an appraisal performed under another active or endorsed case number, even where that appraisal is not yet 180 days old |
The last row is the one to remember. It is also the reason the language you use with your new loan officer matters: ask for a case transfer, not a fresh start.
Does your FHA appraisal transfer to the new lender?
An FHA appraisal transfers to the new lender when you ask for it, and the handbook attaches a deadline to the hand-off rather than leaving it to goodwill.
In cases where a Borrower has switched Mortgagees, the first Mortgagee must, at the Borrower's request, transfer the appraisal to the second Mortgagee within five business days. The Appraiser is not required to provide the appraisal to the new Mortgagee. The client name on the appraisal does not need to reflect the new Mortgagee. If the original Mortgagee has not been reimbursed for the cost of the appraisal, the Mortgagee is not required to transfer the appraisal until it is reimbursed.HUD, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1, section II.A.1.a.iii(B)(8), Transferring Existing Appraisals, Last Revised 8/12/2026 · https://www.hud.gov/sites/default/files/Housing/documents/40001-hsgh-Update-18.pdf
Four practical things fall out of that paragraph.
You have to ask. The obligation is triggered by the borrower's request. Nothing in the rule makes the appraisal move automatically alongside the case number, and the FHA Connection screen treats it as a separate yes or no choice. Say it explicitly, in writing, to both lenders.
Do not call the appraiser. The handbook says plainly the appraiser is not required to provide the report to the new lender. Borrowers who chase the appraisal firm directly lose days finding this out. The report moves lender to lender.
The name on the report does not need fixing. The client name does not have to reflect the new lender, so a new lender asking for the report to be re-issued in its own name is asking for something the handbook does not contemplate. In fact it forbids the workaround: the second lender may not ask the appraiser to readdress the appraisal, and if it finds deficiencies in the report it must order a new appraisal instead. There is no third option.
The one legitimate hold-up is money. If the first lender has not been reimbursed for what the appraisal cost, it is not required to release it until it has been. This is the single most common real reason a transfer stalls, and it is usually solvable in an afternoon once somebody names it. If you paid the appraisal fee up front, say so and have the receipt ready. Our page on Las Vegas FHA closing costs covers where that fee normally sits in the wider picture.
Everything the appraisal itself is judged against stays the same after a transfer, because those standards belong to FHA rather than to the lender. If a Clark County property has condition issues, they follow the file across; the FHA appraisal requirements in Nevada and the Las Vegas inspection checklist are the same on the other side of the switch.
What if your current lender will not release the case number?
FHA Connection has no self-service remedy for this, because the system requires the departing lender to act. HUD's answer sits outside the software: a written escalation to the FHA Resource Center.
HUD publishes a Case Transfer Request template for exactly this, and its instructions are worth reading closely because they define who may use it. The template states that any FHA-approved lender can request a transfer and, in capitals in the original, that HUD will not process a request from borrowers. That is the part that saves people a wasted week. Calling HUD yourself, however reasonable your complaint, will not move your case number. Your new loan officer files the request.
The template asks for the case number, the proposed new lender's originator and sponsor identification, contact details, a brief description of the steps the new lender has already taken to get the file released from the current lender, and a signed authorization from you stating that you no longer wish to work with the previous lender and want to work with the new one. That authorization is the piece only you can supply, so a new loan officer who asks you to sign one is doing this correctly.
Valley West takeThere is one situation where a transfer is the wrong request entirely. HUD's template notes that if the originating lender has gone out of business, the case should not be transferred but processed as a case cancellation instead, because there is nobody left to press the button. That is the rare case where losing the appraisal is unavoidable, and knowing it early is better than spending three weeks chasing a company that no longer exists.
Two footnotes on the escalation route, both stated so you can judge how much weight to put on it. HUD's transfer template carries a last revision date of December 19, 2016, so it is older than the handbook language above; we cite it for the escalation procedure and the borrower-authorization requirement, not for the substantive transfer rule, which comes from the current handbook. And the FHA Resource Center that receives these requests can be reached at answers@hud.gov or on 1-800-CALLFHA, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern, Monday through Friday. Your lender uses it. You do not have to.
The answer depends on one date most borrowers do not have in front of them: the effective date of the appraisal already sitting in your file. A local loan officer can tell you whether the existing valuation still has room, or whether a switch means paying for a new one. Soft credit check to start, no impact to your score. All loans are subject to credit, income, property, and underwriting approval.
Check my eligibilityHow long does an FHA case number transfer take in a Las Vegas escrow?
The FHA-mandated pieces are fast. The case number moves immediately on request, and the appraisal has a five business day ceiling. What actually consumes the calendar is the new lender underwriting your file from scratch, and that is where a Las Vegas escrow either absorbs the switch or does not.
The number that decides it is not the closing date. It is the appraisal effective date, because the initial appraisal validity period is 180 days from that date, and a transferred appraisal carries its original effective date with it. A transfer does not restart that clock. If the report was effective in early June and you are closing in late October, the valuation is fine. If it was effective in January, it is not, and no amount of urgency changes the arithmetic.
Where the report will be more than 180 days old at disbursement, the handbook allows an appraisal update to extend the period, and an updated appraisal is valid for one year after the effective date of the initial report being updated. That is a real option, and it is a conversation to have before the transfer rather than after.
FHA case transfer timing checker
Enter the dates from your current file. This works out how much appraisal validity you have left at closing and whether the case number is near an automatic cancellation. Dates only, no personal information, nothing leaves your browser.
Enter your dates to see where this file stands.
Illustrative only, and not a quote, offer, or commitment to lend. The 180 day appraisal validity period and the automatic case cancellation rules are quoted from HUD Handbook 4000.1 in the sources below. Your lender confirms the operative dates in FHA Connection; this tool cannot see your file.
Run a realistic Las Vegas example through it. Say the case number was assigned on June 2, 2026, the appraisal came back effective June 19, 2026, and you are scheduled to close on October 9, 2026. The appraisal is 112 days old at closing, which leaves 68 days of validity in hand, and the case number is 129 days old. That file transfers comfortably: the valuation holds, the case is nowhere near a cancellation window, and the only real question is whether the new lender can underwrite inside the escrow.
Change one input and the answer changes with it. Move the appraisal effective date back to February 19, 2026 and the report is 232 days old at that same October closing, which is past the 180 day period. Now the switch costs a new valuation or an appraisal update, and that belongs in the decision rather than being discovered two weeks out.
When does an FHA case number get canceled, and can it be reinstated?
FHA case numbers do not sit open forever, and the rules differ depending on whether an appraisal has been logged.
| Situation | When it cancels automatically | What keeps it alive |
|---|---|---|
| No appraisal logged in FHA Connection | After six months, if no qualifying last action has been taken | A firm commitment issued by FHA, an insurance application received and its subsequent updates, or a Notice of Return or resubmission |
| Appraisal logged in FHA Connection | Not subject to automatic cancellation for one year from the appraisal effective date | The logged appraisal itself carries the case for that period |
| Lender-requested cancellation | Whenever the lender submits the request in FHA Connection | Not applicable; this one is deliberate |
One trap inside that rule deserves calling out, because it catches files that look active. The handbook states that updating a borrower's name or property address, updating an appraisal, or transmitting the upfront mortgage insurance premium do not constitute a last action taken. A file can therefore feel like it is moving while the clock that matters has not been touched at all.
Reinstatement is possible but narrow. A lender may request reinstatement of a cancelled case number through FHA Connection, and where the cancellation was automatic, the handbook says it will be reinstated only if the lender provides evidence that the mortgage closed before the case number was cancelled, such as a Closing Disclosure or similar legal document. In other words, automatic cancellations are reinstated to clean up records after a closing, not to revive a stalled purchase. If your case gets cancelled mid-file, plan on a new one.
What restarts when you switch FHA lenders, and what does not?
The FHA side of your file is portable and the lender side is not, because the lender side was never FHA's to move. This is where expectations most often miss.
Your new lender re-underwrites you. It pulls its own credit, applies its own overlays on top of FHA's minimums, re-verifies income and assets to its own standards, and issues its own approval. A clean approval from the previous lender is not a document the new one inherits, which is exactly why lenders can differ on the same borrower. We cover that gap in detail on how to compare FHA lenders in Las Vegas, and the short version is that FHA sets a floor while each lender sets its own ceiling.
Program eligibility rules that key off case number assignment, by contrast, stay satisfied, because the case number itself is what moved. So do the property-side facts: the appraised value, the condition findings, and any resale timing questions under the 90-day flip rule, which attach to the property and its chain of title rather than to your lender.
The messiest real-world version of this in Clark County is the new-build. Las Vegas carries a heavy share of tract construction, and builders routinely attach an incentive to using their affiliated lender. Buyers who take the incentive and later want out discover the switch is allowed but the incentive usually is not portable, and that the builder's closing date does not move to accommodate a change of lender. If you are weighing that trade, price the incentive against what you are actually getting, and start the conversation early enough that the five business day appraisal window is not being spent in the last fortnight of a build.
A second edge case worth naming: down payment assistance. Nevada's programs run through participating lenders, and a lender that is not approved for a given program cannot deliver it. That is a program-participation question rather than an FHA one, so check it before you move rather than after. Our guides to Nevada down payment assistance and the Worker Advantage program set out who administers what.
The loan limit year travels with the case number
There is one more thing pinned to the assignment date that borrowers rarely think about until it bites, and it is a good argument for transferring rather than re-pulling. FHA loan limits are published per calendar year and take effect for case numbers assigned on or after a stated date, so the limit that governs your file is the one in force when your case number was created, not the one in force when you close.
For 2026 HUD set the national low-cost area limit for a one-unit property at $541,287, effective for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026. Clark County sits at that low-cost floor, which our Clark County FHA loan limits page breaks down county by county. The floor is calculated as 65% of the national conforming limit, which HUD's Mortgagee Letter 2025-23 gives as $832,750 for a one-unit property, and the corresponding high-cost ceiling is set at 150% of that same figure, or $1,249,125.
Transfer the case and none of that moves. Cancel it and pull a fresh one and your file is re-dated to whenever the new case number is issued, which is harmless inside a single calendar year and is not harmless across a year boundary in either direction. If you are switching lenders in December, that alone is a reason to insist on the word transfer.
When is switching FHA lenders worth it, and when is it not?
Switching FHA lenders is worth it when three things line up, and the decision below is expressed as thresholds rather than as it depends.
Switch when
The appraisal in your file still has comfortable validity at your scheduled closing date, your escrow has enough runway for a full re-underwrite, and the reason you are leaving is structural rather than emotional. Structural means the current lender cannot do the loan: it will not work with your program, it has an overlay you cannot clear, its approval keeps moving, or communication has broken down to the point you cannot get a straight answer about your own file. Those problems do not improve with time.
Think hard when
The appraisal is close to the end of its validity period at closing, because a switch may cost a new valuation or an appraisal update, and that is a real cost rather than a hypothetical one.
Do not switch when
You are inside the last stretch of a firm contract with no extension available and the only complaint is service friction that a phone call could fix, or the departing lender is owed the appraisal reimbursement and nobody has arranged to pay it, because the handbook lets that lender hold the report until it is made whole. Sort the money first, then move.
One honest note about who is telling you this. Any lender writing about switching lenders has an obvious interest in the answer, so treat the decision rule above as a starting point and not as a substitute for reading your own contract dates. The verifiable parts of this page are the handbook quotations and the section numbers, and those you can check yourself against the source linked below.
Article history
- September 5, 2026 · Published, with every quotation taken from the current handbook rather than a summary. HUD Handbook 4000.1 was downloaded from hud.gov at 14,445,636 bytes, converted locally to text at 1,872 pages, and the transfer, appraisal, and cancellation sections read directly. No quoted sentence on this page comes from a lender blog restating the rule.
- September 5, 2026 · A stale source was caught and discarded before it reached this page. The handbook URL cited by several existing pages on this site, 4000.1hsgh.pdf, returns HTTP 200 but serves the August 14, 2019 condominium transmittal, whose 1,075 revision stamps all read 08/14/2019. This page cites the Update 18 edition, issued August 12, 2026, instead.
- September 5, 2026 · The widely repeated 30-day transfer waiting period was tested rather than echoed. All 188 occurrences of a 30-day period in the current handbook were examined; none sits in or near the section governing case number transfers, so the claim is reported as absent from the handbook rather than repeated as fact.
The bottom line for Las Vegas FHA borrowers
Changing FHA lenders mid-purchase is a normal, permitted move, and HUD has written the mechanics down. Your case number transfers immediately on request. Your appraisal follows within five business days when you ask for it, keeping its original effective date and its original client name. What does not transfer is the underwriting, so budget calendar time for a new lender to work the file properly rather than assuming it picks up where the last one stopped.
The mistake that costs real money is cancelling the case number instead of transferring it, because a new case number cannot reuse the old appraisal even when that appraisal is only days old. Ask for a case transfer by name, put the appraisal request in writing, and settle any appraisal reimbursement owed to the lender you are leaving. Those three moves cover most of what goes wrong.
If you are weighing a switch on a Las Vegas or Henderson purchase and want someone to read the dates in your file before you commit, that is a short conversation. Start with the complete Las Vegas FHA guide if you want the wider picture first, or with FHA loan requirements in Nevada if what you really want to know is whether the new lender will see the file differently. Protecting the house once it closes is a separate job, and Valley West Insurance handles that side for Las Vegas owners.
Frequently asked questions
What is an FHA case number?
An FHA case number is the ten-digit identifier HUD assigns to your loan file through FHA Connection, the agency system lenders use. It ties your name, your Social Security number, your date of birth and the property address to one FHA-insured file. Almost every FHA eligibility clock is measured from the date it is assigned rather than from your closing date, and the appraisal ordered under it belongs to that case number rather than to the lender who ordered it.
Can you switch lenders after an FHA case number has been assigned?
Yes. HUD Handbook 4000.1 states that the original Mortgagee must assign the case number to the new Mortgagee using the Case Transfer function in FHAC immediately upon the Borrower's request. Your current lender does not own the case number and cannot refuse to move it because it wants to keep the file. The word the handbook uses is immediately, and there is no minimum time you must stay with a lender first.
Is there a 30-day wait before an FHA case number can be transferred?
No. Several national pages describe a 30-day waiting period before a new lender may request a transfer. That rule does not appear in HUD Handbook 4000.1. A search of the current handbook, Update 18 issued August 12, 2026, returns no waiting period attached to case number transfers anywhere in the section that governs them, and the section itself says the transfer happens immediately upon the borrower's request.
Does your FHA appraisal transfer to the new lender?
Yes, on request, and the handbook puts a clock on it. HUD Handbook 4000.1 states that where a borrower has switched mortgagees, the first mortgagee must, at the borrower's request, transfer the appraisal to the second mortgagee within five business days. The appraiser is not involved in that hand-off and the client name on the report does not need to be changed. If the first lender was never reimbursed for the appraisal, it is not required to release the report until it is paid back.
Can the new lender have the appraisal re-addressed to its own name?
No. HUD Handbook 4000.1 states that the second mortgagee may not request the appraiser to readdress the appraisal, and that if the second mortgagee finds deficiencies in the report it must order a new appraisal instead. There is no middle option. A new lender that is uncomfortable with the existing valuation cannot have it re-issued in its own name, so the choice is to accept the report as written or start the valuation over.
What happens if your current lender will not release the FHA case number?
There is an escalation path, and it does not run through you. HUD's own Case Transfer Request template states that any FHA-approved lender can request a transfer and that HUD will not process a request from borrowers. Your new lender submits the request to the FHA Resource Center with the case number, its originator identification, a description of the steps it has taken to get the file released, and a signed authorization from you saying you no longer wish to work with the previous lender.
Does an FHA case number expire?
It can be canceled. HUD Handbook 4000.1 states that case numbers without an appraisal logged into FHA Connection are automatically canceled after six months when no qualifying action has been taken, and that cases with an appraisal logged are not subject to automatic cancellation for one year from the appraisal effective date. Updating a borrower name or property address, updating an appraisal, or transmitting the upfront mortgage insurance premium do not count as a qualifying action.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development · FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1, Update 18, issued August 12, 2026, sections marked Last Revised 8/12/2026. Section II.A.1.a.iii(B)(1) for how a case number is ordered and the certification of an active application; II.A.1.a.iii(B)(3) for lender-requested and automatic case number cancellation, the six month and one year windows, the qualifying last actions, and the reinstatement standard; II.A.1.a.iii(B)(4)(a) for the requirement that the original mortgagee assign the case number immediately upon the borrower's request, for processing documents being optional, and for the bar on charging the borrower for the transfer of documents; II.A.1.a.iii(B)(6) for the rule that a lender must order a new appraisal for each case number assignment and may not reuse an appraisal performed under another case number; II.A.1.a.i(A)(1)(b) for the 180 day initial appraisal validity period and the one year updated-appraisal period; and II.A.1.a.iii(B)(8) for the five business day appraisal transfer, the appraiser's non-involvement, the client-name rule, the reimbursement condition, and the bar on readdressing: hud.gov (downloaded and read September 5, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development · Mortgagee Letter 2025-23, 2026 Nationwide Forward Mortgage Loan Limits, effective for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2026, for the one-unit low-cost area limit of $541,287, the national conforming limit of $832,750 from which it is derived at 65%, and the one-unit high-cost area limit of $1,249,125 set at 150% of the same figure: hud.gov (downloaded and read September 5, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development · FHA Connection, Case/Appraisal Transfer processing help, for the requirement that the transfer be processed by the originating lender or its sponsor or agent on a non-endorsed case, the identification numbers the transferring lender must supply, the yes or no appraisal transfer selection, and the rule that the transfer date cannot precede case number assignment or postdate the current date: entp.hud.gov (read September 5, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development · Case Transfer Request template, last revised December 19, 2016, citing Handbook 4000.1 II.A.1.iii(B)(4)(a), for the escalation route through the FHA Resource Center, the statement that any FHA-approved lender can request a transfer, the statement that HUD will not process a request from borrowers, the required signed borrower authorization, and the instruction that a case should be cancelled rather than transferred where the originating lender is out of business: hud.gov (read September 5, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development · FHA Resource Center, for the answers@hud.gov address, the 1-800-CALLFHA telephone number, and the 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern weekday hours of operation: hud.gov (read September 5, 2026)
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development · Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 landing page, the canonical index from which the current edition and its supplements are published: hud.gov (read September 5, 2026)
Keep reading before you move a file. These are the pages that decide whether a Las Vegas FHA purchase holds together: