Virginia Code 38.2-1437: Limitations on mortgages
A. The amount of any loan secured by a mortgage or deed of trust referred to in §§ 38.2-1434 through 38.2-1436 shall not exceed the following percentages of the fair market value of the real estate:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 38.2-1437
- Appraisal: A determination of property value.
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
- Fair market value: means the price that property will bring when (i) offered for sale by one who desires, but who is not obligated, to sell it; (ii) bought by one who is under no necessity of having it; and (iii) sufficient time has elapsed to allow interested buyers the opportunity to become informed of the offer for sale. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
- Insurer: means a company licensed pursuant to Chapter 10 (§ 38. See Virginia Code 38.2-1401
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
1. Seventy-five percent for a leasehold loan made pursuant to subdivision 2 of § 38.2-1434;
2. Ninety percent for a loan made to an employee of the insurer, other than a director or trustee thereof, whether such loan be made in connection with the initial employment of the employee or in connection with the transfer of the place of employment of the employee; or
3. Eighty percent for all other loans.
However, the percentage limits specified in this subsection may be exceeded if the excess is (i) insured or guaranteed or is to be insured or guaranteed by the United States, any state or any agency of either or (ii) insured by an insurer licensed to insure mortgage guaranty risks in this Commonwealth.
B. Any loan made pursuant to §§ 38.2-1434 through 38.2-1436 not in compliance with the requirements of subsection A of this section shall be classified as a Category 2 investment in its entirety.
C. The fair market value of the real estate interest mortgaged shall be determined by a written appraisal of at least one competent real estate appraiser as of the date of the initial loan commitment, which appraiser shall not be an employee of the insurer nor an employee of any company controlled by or under common control with the insurer. If the loan commitment is revised to reflect a change in the value of the real estate, the fair market value shall be determined as of the date of that revision.
D. Buildings and other improvements on the mortgaged premises shall be insured against fire loss for the benefit of the mortgagee in an amount not less than the lesser of their insurable value or the unpaid principal balance of the obligation.
E. The maximum term of any mortgage or deed of trust referred to in §§ 38.2-1434 through 38.2-1436 secured by real property primarily improved by a single-family residence shall not exceed thirty years.
F. A domestic insurer shall not invest, under §§ 38.2-1434 through 38.2-1436, more than two percent of its admitted assets, directly or indirectly, in mortgages covering any one secured location, nor more than four percent in the mortgages of any one obligor.
1983, c. 457, § 38.1-217.40; 1986, c. 562; 1992, c. 588.