The term “mortgage meltdown” has become so commonplace — on TV, in headlines and even casual conversations — that you might assume that this is a tough time to get a mortgage.
But the reality is starkly different: Mortgage money is plentiful, the majority of mortgage products remain relatively unaffected by troubles in the subprime segment, and interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate loans remain in the low 6 percent range for people with reasonably good — not necessarily perfect — credit backgrounds. Even interest rates on jumbo loans — those over $417,000 — have fallen after spiking this summer.
The main change over the past several months, in the words of Ted Grose, president of Los Angeles-based 1st Mortgage Advisors Inc., is that “the products and underwriting that allowed people to buy houses they couldn’t afford have disappeared.”
Nonetheless, say lenders and brokers, there is a widespread and persistent belief by consumers that the entire mortgage market is in crisis.
Kit Crowne, a loan officer with Right Trac Financial Group in Manchester, Conn., says even sophisticated homeowners with high incomes are under this impression. He recently handled a relocation financing for a professional couple moving from New Jersey to Connecticut. During the initial discussion, according to Crowne, one spouse said, “I’m really not sure that we’re going to be able to even qualify for a mortgage. We’ve got a lot of graduate and dental school loan debt — and I hear it’s a terrible time in the mortgage market.”
Crowne checked the couple’s credit, verified assets, and put them into a cream-puff fixed-rate first mortgage at 6.25 percent for 30 years. “You’d be amazed,” he said, “at how often we run into this” pessimistic attitude — despite the fact that rates are lower than they were midsummer.
Jumbo mortgages, which always have carried higher rates than “conforming” loans eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have recently been in the low 7 percent range, according to Crowne, down from the 8 percent and higher levels of a couple of months ago.
In Everett, Wash., Jim Brown, CEO of Veteran Mortgage, agrees that “the ‘mortgage meltdown’ idea is way overstated.” Even in his part of the country, where home prices are rising, “a lot of people think that the mortgage market is in much worse shape” than it actually is.
“Other than subprime and high LTV (loan-to-value) stated-income” programs, he says, “we’ve got pretty much everything now that we did before. We’ve got a lot of outlets.” For example, Brown’s company offers buyers with limited resources five different loan programs that allow zero down payments and fixed rates around 6 percent to 6.25 percent.
Most lenders and investors are quick to note that while mortgage money is plentiful, underwriting standards are stricter than they were a year ago. Jumbo loans, for example, often require two appraisals — one by an appraiser selected by the lender and the other by the investor.
“And they better line up,” said Kit Crowne, or they won’t do the deal.
Similarly, FICO score standards generally are higher than a year ago, stated-income mortgages with no verifications are hard to find, and major investors are on the prowl for anything hinting at fraud. Lenders and investors are especially wary of excessive “layering of risk” — combining low down payments with marginal FICO scores and high debt-to-income ratios — in markets where prices are trending lower.
A major legislative development under way on Capitol Hill could expand consumers’ range of good mortgage choices even further: Congress appears to be on the verge of transforming the once-stodgy Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program into a competitive home loan option nationwide, with lower minimum down payments and maximum mortgage amounts generous enough to fund loans in pricey California.
Under a bill passed by the House on Sept. 18, FHA loans could go as high as 125 percent of an area’s median home price or 175 percent of the limit for loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In California, where the statewide median is in the mid-$500,000 range, that could mean FHA-insured mortgages well above $600,000. A companion bill approved by the Senate Banking Committee would cap FHA loans at the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac limit, currently $417,000.
A key strength of the FHA that many borrowers may not know about is that its funding base is virtually bulletproof: Its mortgages are pooled into federally guaranteed bonds issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and are considered nearly as safe as Treasury securities. Better yet, FHA loans are consumer-friendly: no prepayment penalties, flexible and generous for consumers with past credit challenges, but old-fashioned and strict about documenting income and assets.
Ken Harney is a real estate columnist with the Washington Post.