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Welcome to the FHA Handbook Portal

The FHA (Federal Housing Administration) portal contains the online version of the new Information Mapped Handbooks as well as links to corresponding forms and resources on the HUD (Housing and Urban Development) website. The online 4155.1 and 4155.2 handbooks incorporate and consolidate guidance from Handbooks 4155.1 REV-5, 4000.2 REV-3, 4000.4 REV-1, 4165.1 REV-2 and related Mortgagee Letters.


Handbooks 4155.1 and 4155.2 are current with Mortgagee Letter guidance effective as of 12/30/09.

The Handbook Hierarchy

The Information Mapped FHA Handbooks have a different hierarchy from the previous chapters that they replace. The new hierarchy is explained below.

New Handbook Hierarchy Numbering Example

Handbook

4155.1

Chapter

4155.1 1

Section

4155.1 1.A

Topic

4155.1 1.A.1

Block

4155.1 1.A.1.a

Finding Content via the Table of Contents and Advanced Search

Using the Table of Contents and the Handbook Links

On clicking the Table of Contents link or the title of any of the FHA Handbooks on the left, you will be able to view the Table of Contents page that shows the entire content of the Handbook. You can then drill down into the hierarchy to retrieve the content you need.


Using the Advanced Search

For more advanced users, the Advanced Search option allows you to find a specific Block of content in the Handbook. You can display an index of all of the Blocks in the FHA Handbooks alphabetically or by design. You can also insert specific criteria to refine your search for specific content, such as a(n)


  • Information Type, which limits your search to a specific type of information, such as a procedure
  • Handbook, which limits your search to a specific handbook within the hierarchy of the overall design, or
  • Keyword, which limits your search to Blocks with labels containing the indicated keyword.

Bookmarking Content for Future Reference

  • Once you find the content you are looking for, you can save it for future reference by selecting the Bookmark button (
    ). This action saves the Topic or Block in your Web browser's Favorites list.

The FHA Handbook Content Page

Navigating Between Content Pages

When you are on a FHA Handbook content page for a Chapter or Section, you can use the topic list on the top of each content page to select a specific Topic. Once you select a Topic from the Topic list, only that Topic appears on the page. To navigate through the Chapter/Section


  • use the View Next Topic and View Previous Topic links at the top of the page to scroll through all of the topics in the Chapter/Section, or
  • select the View Topic List link to redisplay the list of Topics and make another selection.

Navigating within the Handbook

The top of each content page contains a "bread crumb" trail to show you exactly where you are within the hierarchy of the Handbook. You can select any item in this bread crumb trail to go to that level in the Handbook. For additional navigational help, each Topic and Block contains a location ID on the right side of the page which pinpoints your exact location within the FHA Handbook, such as 1.2.c (Chapter 1, Topic 2, Block c).


Using Reference to Other Content Pages and External Web Sites

Handbook content Blocks contain hyperlinked references to other locations within the Handbook and external Web sites. These hyperlinks are followed by a small window icon (

) which indicates that click on the hyperlink will open the relevant content in a new window. To return to the content you were previously viewing, simply click the X button in the top right corner of the window.

Printing the Content Page and/or Handbook

A print option is located on the left menu bar. This option allows you to print


  • the entire Handbook, or
  • a chapter within a Handbook.

Each of these print-ready documents contains paper-centric navigational aids, such as clean page breaks, document identifiers at the top of each page, and page numbers at the bottom of each page.

The FHA Handbook Portal Archive

Viewing the Archive

The Archives link on the left and top, provides a complete listing of all relevant archives, listed chronologically beginning with the most recent date. These Archives act like "snapshots" of what FHA Handbook portal looked like between the two posted dates.

Note: If there is no current Archived content, these links on the left and tabs at the top will not appear on the site.

Viewing the Quicklinks

The Quicklinks on the left provide "one-click" access to frequently-referenced information. The Quicklinks may link to


  • information in the Handbooks, such as a particularly relevant procedure, or
  • external Web sites that contain pertinent information, such as CFRs or U.S.C.s.

These links may change as information becomes identified as important or timely.

Accessing Help

Portal Help

There is a Help button on the left menu that explains the functionality available on this portal.


Content Help

For content specific help, the Get Help button located at the bottom of each Block allows you to send an e-mail to FHA requesting help with that specific piece of content. Clicking on this button will open a new message window in your e-mail program, with the Subject field automatically filled-in with the appropriate Block-ID and title.