Aug 09 2007
The ever changing mortgage market and loan availability
After 12 years in the Florida mortgage market; I thought I had seen it all. The current mortgage market has been more volatile than ever as liquidity evaporates every day. We all are experiencing the results; mostly mortgage program availability across the board.
Every day we are receiving mortgage lender guideline changes and mortgage program deletions. All that I guess is good news as other mortgage lenders and banks are simply closing shop all together. The overall picture with mortgage program availability is conventional programs will survive. These are FNMA (Fannie Mae), FHLMC (Freddie Mac), FHA (Federal Housing Administration) and VA (Veterans Administration Home Loans).
Home buyers are going to have to make changes prior to considering purchasing their new home. This is how things used to be when I started my mortgage career back in the mid 90’s. Home buyers should consider actually saving money to use towards down payments, closing costs, or reserves. Reviewing one’s credit history and taking steps to improve credit scores are essential these days before considering obtaining a mortgage. And of course, home buyers are going to have to qualify with strict conventional debt ratio limits.
The market is still in change mode and we mortgage professionals will stay on top of the morgage program availability to keep home buyers informed. If you have questions on what programs are left, know that conventional mortgage loans will remain and all of the others might disappear.