Because of negative sentiment about the economy, we’re in the middle of the first remortgage boom of 2008. There may be others, or this one may last a while.
It’s been a few years since mortgage rates fell so far, so fast. It’s like a Sid Fernandez curveball.
If your loan officer hasn’t called you about taking a lower rate yet, get pro-active and call him (or her, Rhonda). It’s your money, after all.
That said, there are a few key differences from the last time we had a remortgage boom like this.
- During the last remortgage boom, lenders were growing their staff to handle extra capacity. This year, mortgage lenders are working with smaller staffs after major layoffs in 2007.
- During the last remortgage boom, lenders were sprouting like weeds to chase mortgage money. This year, there are far fewer mortgage lenders after the bloodletting in 2006 and 2007.
Complicating matters: mortgage guidelines are very different this year from the recent past. Underwriters don’t know the new standards frontwards and backwards like they did, plus they’re being more careful.
All of this combines to mean that fewer underwriters are processing more applications that each require additional scrutiny. It would be prudent for all of us to expect underwriting delays.
As an example, the “24-hour turntime” notices I used from my investors now read:
“Please allow one week for underwriting”.
Now, at times like this, some loan officers will say to clients and real estate agents that because they can underwrite home loans in their offices, their files are immune to delays when rates fall. There’s some truth in that (and I know because we do it at Mobium), but that doesn’t mean we’re not feeling the pressure of time, too.
Every mortgage broker|banker|lender in the country is experiencing very high volume right now and we are all coping with the same issues about time and resources.
30-day closings are still possible, but it may be better to play it safe at 45. If rates keep falling, we may bump that to 60.
the doctor’s office where we were all sitting in comfortable chairs while our particular poison (mine were Gemzar and cisplatin) was going into our bodies via a tube into our arms. We would talk. One of the remarkable benefits I had, that they didn’t, I was was in Los Angeles, three days a week, receiving Scientology Spiritual Counseling to get rid of all of the grief, fear and “deathfullness” I had. The one thing I found that each and every one of the other patients had was an upset on one particular thing: they didn’t know when they were doing to die. When they found out that they had cancer they then knew that they might (or might not) die. And they didn’t know when. I was in exactly the same boat. I didn’t know if I would be dead in six weeks, six months or six years. It was interesting that I could cheer them up by just by asking, “When was it that you did know when you were going to die?” I could get them all laughing on this point, as they would eventually realize that there never was a time when they knew. What had happened is, as a result of knowing they had cancer, they had discovered that they didn’t know. It was step up in awareness.
The Odysseus Medal this week goes to Kris Berg for 
The Black Pearl Award this week goes to Krista Baker with 
