Only the actual owner of a home can sell that home with Federal Housing Administration financing, and in an attempt to discourage flipping, homes sold within 90 days of purchase won’t be eligible for FHA financing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ruled Wednesday.

The rules provide that property acquired by the seller is not eligible for the buyer to obtain an FHA-insured mortgage unless the seller has owned that property for at least 90 days. The seller must also be the owner of record.

Payment-option loans are exotic and certainly riskier than traditional loan programs, but interest-only loans are only marginally so. So little principle is applied to a 30-year loan in the first five to 10 years that the net effect on paydown is negligible. Yet the monthly payment difference is significant enough to allow first-time home buyers to jump on the equity bandwagon and allows growing families the ability to move up without becoming house poor. Besides, the life of an average mortgage is now less than five years. Situations change, people refinance, sell, etc., muting any long-term negative effects.