A Shot Of Reality

Several months ago I was invited to a conference put on by a local lender. The topic was the good things happening in the mortgage industry, rates are low and with a good credit score there is mortgage money available. The group hosting the conference had invited reporters from local news channels and print publications and let these groups know what the conference was about, guess what, none of them even returned calls.

Some things never change. Yesterday I met with a small group of local lenders and Realtors to share a few ideas about the current market. One of the lenders reported that he had a call from a local television station that wanted to interview him and about his views on the local market, he told the person calling that he felt good about the market, it is a great time in particular for first time buyers, there is even money for rehabbing a home for first time buyers and home prices are low. He then told the caller that he would be speaking that day before local board of Realtors and maybe filming the interview there would be beneficial, the caller was excited said they would call back to confirm. The caller then returned the call and said the program director decided to take a different angle, hmm? The new angle was not positive.

Lately I have been getting calls from clients with c credit scores of 720 plus that are fearful that the cannot get a mortgage. Let's be clear here, if you have a good credit score and have a steady verifiable income you can get a mortgage, maybe even 100% financing. The biggest change in the market has been that lenders now require you to fit into the above criteria, frankly it was about time, it is also time to stop listening to half truths from the news and ask your Realtor or lender what is really going on.