Bailout Making it Harder for Loans ... or Helping? (PART 2)

With all the changes to this bailout plan (we spoke last week on how this will affect our economy and financing options) what will your financing options look like? Right now they have definitely tightened up guidelines but you know what the secret is...you still have the ability (more than ever) to get into a home and into financing.

I would bet that most of you have completely written off your chances of getting into financing, especially with all the lenders tightening up. To some extent that's true, many lenders have over regulated and some are completely gone, but others have become even more competitive! Namely the Federal Housing Administration and the Dept. of Veterans Affairs (aka, FHA and VA), these lenders have loosened up there guidelines to help homeowners. What!?! CNN didn't say that!

These loan options are now available for borrowers with low credit scores and past blemishes. That may be you...but how would you know without calling and finding out. Do you want to get into a home? Yes / No (circle one). If you do, then what have you done to take that next step. What are you waiting for...lower prices on homes...sellers are motivated! Lower interest rates...lowest they have been in the past 5 years!

Don't let the media deter you away from looking at your options. We help all forms of clients, through conventional financing, FHA, VA and if none of those will get you into a home, Lease Options can. I rarely find a client that we are unable to help!

So if that's you and you want to experience homeownership, give me a call and we can look into your options. You may be surprised what you can get.

Bailout Making it Harder for Loans … or Helping?

By now I’m sure that most of you have heard of the recent government bailout plan that is being worked up. At first it was a limited condition plan for over $700 billion, well that has died and is now being worked up in a revised version. So how will this affect you?

Well, first you have to understand the reason why…why is the government spending $700 billion right now when our economy is hurting? Well the simplest answer is that if they don’t step in, we would see a complete destruction of the economy, even from its current state.

As it stands right now, lenders are (out of necessity) tightening up there guidelines on their loan programs. I’m sure you have experienced this if you have tried to qualify for a home recently. This is one of the main reasons for the government’s actions; plus they need to bailout these companies and get some bad “paper” off there books. Therefore taking the pressure off of the companies and opening up the market to encourage growth.

Now, don’t think that the government is just paying some money to get companies back on their feet…oh no, they are taking over assets as a result. The biggest assets will be existing home loans. They are taking over current homes that may be in default. Now how they treat these defaulted loans is yet to be seen…and will determine the future direction of the economy.

So for now, it would appear that this will help benefit our economy (as seen from today’s stock market gains). The most important thing is that it should free up some lenders to start lending money…but you can be sure the guidelines will still be tight. Not as tight as they have been over the last 12 months, but tighter than they have been in the distant past.

I want to let you in on a secret…actually I have completely run out of space, so I will have to let you know next week. Sorry ;)