Monday, November 10, 2008

YES, We Are STILL DOING LOANS!!!!

I've never been so amazed on how many people believe every thing they hear on the news. Almost every person that I have met in the last month are amazed that I'm still doing business in the mortgage industry. They all thought that mortgages were near impossible to obtain at this point and were surprised to hear that I was not filing for unemployment. What about the credit squeeze they heard about on the news?

The facts are, that mortgages are still being approved and funded every day. Yes, the guidelines can be tougher in some places and there are a lot of loans that we can no longer due. However, you don't have to have an 800 credit score or 20% down to be approved for a loan. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

There are still 100% financing options available and you don't necessarily have to have GREAT credit to obtain no money down financing. And, YES, you can still obtain a mortgage loan if you can't verify your income. AND, YES, you can still obtain a mortgage for an investment property.

However, lenders will no longer approved loans with layered risk (multiple risk factors). If you don't have great credit and can't verify your income, good luck finding a loan. Or if you want to purchase an investment property with no money down, have fun trying. There are dozens of programs still available (with good rates) that will lend money to people with a lower credit score or can't verify income or don't want to put money down, but you can't have multiple risk factors.

When we look back in 5-10 years at the mortgage meltdown, I believe layered risk will be one of the biggest lessons learned. A lot of these loans are great programs, but there can't be multiple risk factors involved within these loans.

Greg Selters
Mortgage Manager
Prosperity Financial, LLC
http://www.myprosperityfinancial.com/