Mortgage 88

Mortgage 88

Why is the Pathway to Mortgage Approval Tightening?

Posted: 10 Dec 2008 03:31 AM CST

The mortgage credit tightening has affect lots of people nationwide. Many people last year decided to finally build their dream home when they were approved for construction financing. Once the credit guidelines tightened by lenders, many lenders who approved loans last year have backed out of their decision leaving the borrower with tough options. The tightening credit market is not just a problem for newbie buyers with bad credit. It is also affecting people who have great credit, reserves and stable employment.

For some who did not begin construction, they are lucky. Others who have almost completed their homes are left with a large loan that is coming due while a large portion of lenders will not touch it as a construction to permanent loan. The effect to the homeowner is a major strain on their finances to say the least.

The lucky ones do not borrow, the home builder has less of a work log, and the mortgage lender has less business. It is a snowballing effect though. It hurts employment for the sub-contractors, building supply stores, basically the whole industry. A good reason for the banks decision is since the housing industry is in a down market they cannot take on any more risk.

Mortgage lending continues to become constricting as financial institutions tighten their guidelines monthly, and sometimes even weekly. Some mortgage brokers who offer much more programs than a bank see their wholesale lenders falling each month. Nowadays submitting a loan is like going into a war zone. The underwriters are always on the attack by searching for areas on the loan application that are unstable. They do not want to find a time bomb since they were burned in the recent past.

The typical bank cannot do these loans anymore but solutions are available. There are still a small percentage of companies which can do these mortgages for borrowers at competitive interest rates.

Most of the credit crunch's affect has occurred in the condo, second home and investment property areas. Buyers are still able to get conventional mortgage by putting five percent down, if the borrower has a credit score above 680. Moreover, one-hundred percent financing is still available through the VA or rural programs. The rural program may sound misleading but there are many suburban areas with populations of less than 25,000 that qualify. An FHA mortgage only requires three to five-percent down and they allow refinancing up to 95% percent.

With the governments rescue plan it is expected that guidelines will be hopefully loosened by early next year. So, it should just be a tough period until next year for homeowners and borrowers who do not fit into certain programs. However, check to see if you qualify for an FHA loan or rural program by contacting a mortgage lender or broker.

Related Tags: bad credit, credit score, investment property, mortgage brokers, interest rate

Posted by The 300 mb United Team Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 11:29 AM  

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