{"id":4812,"date":"2008-10-04T08:44:40","date_gmt":"2008-10-04T15:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=4812"},"modified":"2008-10-04T08:44:45","modified_gmt":"2008-10-04T15:44:45","slug":"other-types-of-credit-may-be-feeling-the-crunch-but-home-mortgages-are-still-readily-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4812\/other-types-of-credit-may-be-feeling-the-crunch-but-home-mortgages-are-still-readily-available\/","title":{"rendered":"Other types of credit may be feeling the crunch, but home mortgages are still readily available"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic<\/i> (permanent link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

 
Other types of credit may be feeling the crunch, but home mortgages are still readily available<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bad news about the economy is coming in from all directions, so you may be in the mood for some good news: There is plenty of money available for home loans.<\/p>\n

By taking over FannieMae and FreddieMac, the federal government has essentially nationalized the secondary mortgage market. The lenders themselves are still private entities, but the government’s loan guarantees are viewed as being so strong that, by now, virtually all residential real estate loans are coming through Fannie, Freddie, the FHA or the VA.<\/p>\n

The other way of saying the same thing: There is virtually no secondary mortgage market left for non-conforming or sub-prime loans.<\/p>\n

So while you may have trouble getting new car financing or a loan for your business, you should have no problem getting a home loan — if you qualify and if the amount you’re borrowing falls within the limits set by the four government agencies guaranteeing home loans.<\/p>\n

And there’s the rub: For most of the Phoenix area, qualifying for a conforming loan should be no problem. But higher-priced homes are sold with non-conforming “jumbo” loans, which are difficult to obtain right now and come at much higher interest rates.<\/p>\n

Using an FHA loan, it is still possible to buy a home with “nothing down.” FHA borrowers are obliged to pay a 3.5% down payment, but this can be offset by the $7,500 tax credit incorporated in the mortgage relief bill passed in July. FHA borrowers can ask the seller for up to 6% in closing costs, so they can take possession of the home for no money out of pocket.<\/p>\n

But there’s a catch: To obtain an FHA loan, the home will have to pass a rigorous FHA appraisal, which will eliminate many foreclosed homes unless the seller is willing to correct the most serious defects.<\/p>\n

All that notwithstanding, while the financial sky might be roiling with dark clouds, real estate is still a silver lining. Because of the government’s loan guarantees, lenders are willing Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link).  Other types of credit may be feeling the crunch, but home mortgages are still readily available Bad news about the economy is coming in from all directions, so you may be in the mood for some good news: There is plenty of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-lending","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4418,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4418\/fannie-and-freddie-fall-to-foreclosure-but-still-lenders-lend\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":0},"title":"Fannie and Freddie fall to foreclosure, but, still, lenders lend","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0Fannie and Freddie fall to foreclosure, but, still, lenders lend I write this column at the beginning of the week, and it appears at the end of the week. My topics are usually timeless, but, if I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1667,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1667\/the-800-pound-gorilla-in-the-corner-the-meltdown-of-the-wall-street-mortgage-market\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":1},"title":"The 800 pound gorilla in the corner – the meltdown of the Wall Street mortgage market","author":"Morgan Brown","date":"July 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"As we go about our daily lives in the mortgage and real estate world; dutifully performing our job functions and taking the high road of customer enlightenment via blogs such as Bloodhound; we are faced with a very large gorilla looming in the corner of our workplace. That gorilla is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4882,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4882\/the-glass-is-half-full\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":2},"title":"The Glass IS Half Full","author":"Sean Purcell","date":"October 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"new, post-bail-out\u00a0era of real estate\" is how Cheryl Johnson describes things going forward amidst the \"collapsing global financial markets\" in Back At The Ranch. In a comment to Friday's edition of the Bloodhound Blog Radio Mortgage program Brian Brady and I co-host, the optimistic view I have for real\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14949,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14949\/reforming-fanniemae-and-freddiemac-with-marx-rotarian-socialist-rent-seekers-of-the-world-unite-you-have-nothing-to-lose-but-your-brains\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":3},"title":"Reforming FannieMae and FreddieMac with Marx: Rotarian Socialist rent-seekers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your brains!","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Totally cool. An actual newspaper article about America's favorite welfare program, government subsidized mortgages -- and in The Boston Globe, no less:Amid all the clamor about entitlement reform during the struggle to raise the debt ceiling, one enormous cost - and potential source of future savings - largely escaped scrutiny:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12586,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/12586\/pace-solar-program-slows-chances-of-economic-recovery\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":4},"title":"PACE Solar Program Slows Chances of Economic Recovery","author":"Brian Brady","date":"July 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Residential real estate finance is ill and getting worse.\u00a0 I cautioned that the elixir that got us into this mess should be removed for a robust private market solution but the mix makers upped the dosage.\u00a0 It's gonna make us even more sick. Last year, I saw an opportunity to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Innovation"","block_context":{"text":"Innovation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/innovation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1855,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1855\/the-new-york-times-goes-on-a-countrywide-manhunt\/","url_meta":{"origin":4812,"position":5},"title":"The New York Times goes on a Countrywide manhunt","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times on the Countrywide mess and how the company got there:ON its way to becoming the nation\u2019s largest mortgage lender, the Countrywide Financial Corporation encouraged its sales force to court customers over the telephone with a seductive pitch that seldom varied. \u201cI want to be sure you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4813,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4812\/revisions\/4813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}