Pinetop White Mountain Blog

Good Evening Everyone,

Today's lending is very tight and no matter what kind of loan you are applying for, Government backed like FHA or VA, or Conventional, be prepared to jump to the lender's tune to buy your property.

First Time Homebuyers seem to have it the best.  It seems that lenders are much more lenient with First Timers than other buyers. The lending institutions seem to bend over backwards to help the First Time Buyer but for a regular buyer, they are really tough. 

It is my opinion that the lenders see the lower end, first time homebuyer as a better risk.  They are not buying expensive property for the most part, they are excited about getting a property, and statistically they will work very hard to keep that property because they had to work so hard to get it in the first place. 

Other buyers and even retirees are now seen as higher risk.  The lenders are buried under thousands and thousands of foreclosure properties because people made bad buying decisions when the market was booming.  Now these same buyers have seen their equity diminish and rather than wait out the down turn and hold on until things recover, they are walking away from those properties that they just had to have a few years ago. 

Oh, I place a lot of this on the shoulders of the lenders themselves because back when the market was booming if you could walk and chew gum at the same time you could get financing.  Now even with good credit, a good job, and a good down payment, these same lenders are making it very tough to get any kind of financing.  It seems they are looking for excuses not to loan even for well qualified buyers.  They are  too tough in my opinion but we must work with it.   

My point in this post is to prepare you ahead of time that if you are trying to buy a property, whether it be for your first home or your last, you must be prepared to jump through all kinds of hoops to satisfy your lender.  We are all at their mercy and they are putting a great deal more risk on the backs of the buyers these days and you need to be prepared for that ahead of time.  It can be done, we just have to comply with the lenders requirements in order for it to happen.  If you can't comply, the bottom line is you aren't going to get that loan.

Good luck with your searches and your purchases.  If we can help or answer any questions for you we are here for you. 

---REMEMBER---

"WE WORK FOR YOU!"

SANDRA & BRUCE PAULOW, Your High Country REALTORS®

(928) 242-0300