Is ANYONE giving out mortgages?

[Anonymous]

We earn way less than you do, only put down 3.5% and got a loan for 440k with an FHA loan. We have nearly perfect credit scores and no debt other than my (now very small) grad school student loan = 4k. We closed in January, locked in the loan in Nov 2010.

[Anonymous]

Trying borrowing less money--i.e. buy a less expensive home so you can qualify for the loan.

[Anonymous]

Why are you only going to banks? Why are you not going to a mortgage broker? I recommend Sheila Boland at Prudential Mortgage.

[Anonymous]

You might be having problems because the ceiling for conforming loans is going to reset soon. Personally, if I were a bank I would give a mortgage to anyone unless the have a large downpayment (40%) and wanted a 15 or 20 year mortgage. I think it will be difficult for borrowers to build equity in a falling market. And this market has a long way to drop!

[Anonymous]

We have been pre-approved by two different mortgage companies.
$1M short sale
20% down
HHI - $250K
Credit score - 780
No revolving debt - except for two car payments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might be having problems because the ceiling for conforming loans is going to reset soon. Personally, if I were a bank I would give a mortgage to anyone unless the have a large downpayment (40%) and wanted a 15 or 20 year mortgage. I think it will be difficult for borrowers to build equity in a falling market. And this market has a long way to drop!

This was very helpful. Thank you. Perhaps that's the problem we have been encountering.

No problem getting pre-approved, the mortgage we requested was a very modest 500k (we were pre-approved for well over $1m), good credit, etc. but they still haven't "shown us the money" per se. We are using a broker and the broker is the one that said that many of the banks are just not giving out loans at the moment. Very frustrating. Hopefully, we will get things finalized in a few weeks. If not, then we'll just keep renting and wait it out. Maybe it'll even save us more $ in the long run. Who knows.

Thanks again for all of the great tips, everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we have not been turned down. I guess I was just unrealistic as to how quickly this could get done in the current economy.

Patience is a virtue I obviously lack. Thanks for the tips, everyone.

Relax.

We just got underwriter sign off on a $1.1m loan for next home. Took over 45 days, and that was with our broker and us pushing it through, hard. And we'd worked with this broker before. They required reams of paperwork, constant updates on the state of our accounts, tax documentation for past 2 yrs, DNA samples from everyone, promise of our firstborn, blah blah blah.

It's not 2005 anymore, that's for sure! You'll get there. Just talk to your broker/loan officer and find out exactly where you are in the process and what you still need to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been pre-approved by two different mortgage companies.
$1M short sale
20% down
HHI - $250K
Credit score - 780
No revolving debt - except for two car payments.

Preapproval is very different than the underwriter sign off and final loan. Wait and see. We didn't realize how much more work it would require, and how much longer it would take, either. Just be aware.

We had preapproval for a $1.5m loan. We only took a $1m loan, 30 yr fixed

HHI - $450k
30% down
Credit score - 780
Minimal revolving debt - 1 car loan (3 cars total, one paid off)
1 credit card, paid off monthly
Home Price - $1.35m

Took almost 60 days for the underwriters from the bank to get all the paperwork approved and sign off on the loan to close on teh house.

[Anonymous]

PP - we're waiting around for the short sale to be approved, what's another 60 - right? ugh.....