Impressions From The Lending Industry Today In Progress

It’s a good day to buy a house!  With the housing market picking up steam, this is good for loan officers.  I chatted with one recently and would like to share some optimistic signs he is seeing today in the lending industry.

Today's mortgage industry is busy with home buyers taking advantage of historically low rates. Activity in all price ranges is strong.  There are still a lot of short sales and foreclosures on the market and this will probably continue for a while.  However, now is a great time for a renter to enter the housing market as the tax advantages are still excellent and the rent rates have gone up recently.  A buyer can still enter the market with a down payment as little a s 3.50%.

Many home buyers have been on the sidelines for awhile and are entering the market now that prices have seemed to stabilized. Lenders are busy with applications for purchase transactions. There are some programs available for investors with as little as 10% down. In some cases home buyers are bidding against each other and we have not seen that phenomena in a few years.  No one knows the real bottom of a market but it is beginning to look like its starting to go the other way in some areas.

Credit standards are very common sense and not as hard as the media might portray.  Perfect credit is not required but good credit is a requirement.  Lenders have plenty of mortgage options today with low payment loans for a 1st time buyer, loans with no PMI, rehab loans and even those with less than 20% down.

With all the options today, if you have good credit, it is time to consider buying if buying a home has been on your radar.  Take advantage of the opportunity while it is still available today!