Weekly Market Recap

It Does Not Have to be so Difficult

Four years ago this week, a Credit Update overview was sent out highlighting the fact that there was the makings of a credit disconnect in the marketplace, particularly related to lower credit loans (Alt-A, Subprime, and Second Mortgages), and that there was also the beginnings of serious structural cracks in the lending marketplace.  Looking back now, I am not sure many of us would have projected that these "structural cracks" would have been as far reaching and all encompassing as they were.

Four years after widespread subprime mortgage defaults touched off an international financial crisis, getting a mortgage today seems so difficult two out of three Americans (70.6%) believe access to affordable mortgages is a serious problem, according to a national survey (released by a national mortgage research board).

The survey also found that understanding the mortgage process and coping with lenders' requirements are the most challenging aspects of getting a mortgage today.  In fact, survey respondents ranked it more challenging (32.3%) than getting the mortgage itself (23%) or negotiating the sale price on the home (25.3%).  In addition 79% of recent homebuyers, especially those earning $50K a year or more, report getting a mortgage was as, or more, difficult than they expected.

One in five recent homebuyers (20.9%) said waiting to hear if they were approved for a mortgage was more stressful than waiting to hear if they got a job.  One in ten borrowers (10.8%) report their lender gave them a higher interest rate than what they were originally quoted, and 22.9% said applying for a mortgage was challenging because documentation requirements from their lender kept changing.

Now given the events that have transpired from 2007 thru 2011, one would think that the mortgage process might be a little more challenging.  However, reviewing the positive monthly survey results gathered internally from folks who have closed their loans with Weichert Financial Services; the responses doesn’t nearly correlate to the daunting feedback reported above.

Which lends to two takeaways: first, that because we take pride in what we do, and because of our expertise, we have removed some of these challenges, concerns, and hurdles individuals have seen elsewhere.  Secondly, it does not have to be so difficult to get a mortgage.

Let me help…we can make the process much less stressful.