Yes you can get a mortgage
The media have just about convinced everyone that the housing industry is headed for disaster and that mortgage loans are unobtainable due to the subprime mortgage mess. While a credit crunch did briefly develop in August, as the pendulum swung too far from too easy to too difficult, it seems to have stabilized and loans are available and are getting funded and buyers can indeed go forward with their plans to purchase a home.
Here in the Charleston South Carolina real estate market, homes are still being offered for sale and buyers are still purchasing. A couple of my recent closings were interesting examples of the current mortgage market.
In one case, a first time home buyer who relocated to Charleston applied to Bank of America for a mortgage. Prepared to provide the lender full documentation in order to obtain the loan, Bank of America ultimately never asked for a W-2, tax returns, etc.
Good credit, a real job, a down payment and purchasing within one's means goes a long way to insure that you will be able to obtain a mortgage. I just thought in today's tougher credit environment, the bank might have asked for some documentation. By the way, Bank of America's new No Fee Mortgage Plus loan which I wrote about several months ago with many closing costs paid by Bank of America is really nice.
Another client obtained a mortgage from much maligned Countrywide and the loan went smoothly as is customary with Countrywide. I will tell you that the mortgage lenders that I have worked with at Countrywide are the most accessible and available of all the lenders that I use. In this particular case, our lender was out of town at a funeral but was still available to quickly return phone calls and answer several questions that came up during the closing. Closing was on schedule, the loan funded and the buyers are now happy in their new home.
Kenneth Harney, writing in the Washington Post and syndicated in the Charleston Post and Courier every Saturday in the real estate section recently wrote about consumer misunderstandings of mortgage availability in light of the subprime meltdown.
“The term "mortgage meltdown" has become so common -- on TV, in headlines and in casual conversations -- that you might assume that this is a tough time to get a mortgage.
But the reality is starkly different: Mortgage money is plentiful; the majority of mortgage products remain relatively unaffected by troubles in the subprime segment; and interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rate loans remain in the low 6 percent range for people with reasonably good -- not necessarily perfect -- credit records.
Even interest rates on jumbo loans -- those for more than $417,000 -- have fallen after spiking this summer.
The main change over the past several months is that "the products and underwriting that allowed people to buy houses they couldn't afford have disappeared," said Ted Grose, president of 1st Mortgage Advisors in Los Angeles.
Nonetheless, lenders and brokers say, there is a widespread and persistent belief by consumers that the entire mortgage market is in crisis.”
Please read the entire article, Buyers are feeling some heat but it's not a 'mortgage meltdown'.