So you want to get a mortgage? OK, Call a mortgage lender (like me) and do an application. You have good credit right? You make a good income right? This will be easy right? Well possibly. But it is getting harder and harder to get through this process without feeling like you’ve been violated.

Let’s talk about income first. It’s pretty simple, you have to make enough money to cover your basic debts, including your house payment, and so you look at your paystub and you look at your Year To Date income listed there and tell the lender that you make X number of dollars a month. Then you tell the lender (again…I’m available) that you have a 2nd part time job that your some extra cash at and so you are sure that you will be approved for the amount that you want to spend on a house. You know how much you make. You should be fine. However, after going over all of your income documents the lender tells you that you only qualify for (a lot less). What happened? Well maybe you included overtime income in your Year To Date but after checking it out your lender finds out that you have only been getting overtime for 4 months and your boss won’t guarantee that you will continue to get it. Then the lender looks at the 2nd job, part time income and says “can’t use it” Why? You have been at that job for over 24 months… Yes but in 2008 you made a lot more then you made in 2009…Declining Income due to a bad economy, may not be able use that income.

If you are self employed the process gets even tougher. We will need to get 2 years of tax returns, extentions if that is what you have filed, Profit and Loss statements. and so on.

Just be aware that as you go to qualify for a home loan, underwriters and investors are changing the rules everyday it seems, and it is usually not for the better, If you were qualified for a certain amount 3 months ago. just double check with your lender to make sure that you’re still OK.

Let me know your thoughts and let me know when I can help. Mark Afman

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Now that the tax credit has expired (except for military personal), many in the real estate industry are asking themselves where is the market going? There has been some great information put out in the last few days that may give us a clue. On John Rebchooks blog www.insiderealestatenews.com (sponsored by Universal Lending) he posted a piece talking about the median price of recent home sales. That price fell below $300,000 and the bulk of those sales fell between $100,000 and $200,000. His article is titled “Home sale sweet spot below $300,000″ Continue Reading »