When was the last time that you did something for the first time? (Warning: tissues may be needed.) The best use of technology is to improve quality of life. Watch people’s beautiful first expressions of hearing sounds for the first time. (This came from an email from Steve Wozniak – yes, that one, who wrote, “Why do you think we started Apple. Steve Jobs and myself wanted to make life the same for the disabled and normal people. We wanted blind people to be like sighted people. To see how much we succeeded just look at any sidewalk and see all the people walking blindly while looking at their smart phones.”) Here’s another first time. Yesterday we learned that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) published the Acceptance of Private Flood Insurance for FHA-Insured Mortgages final rule (Docket No. FR-6084-F-02) in the Federal Register. With today’s publication, FHA will now accept private flood insurance policies where the borrower chooses to obtain a private policy instead of flood insurance available through the National Flood Insurance Program. This change applies to all FHA-insured Single Family Title II mortgages, including Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM), and loans insured under FHA’s Title I programs. (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology, and other services in the mortgage industry and in banking. Today’s features an interview with NerdWallet’s Holden Lewis on borrower capacity and housing market fundamentals.)