Lending Requirements Remain Tight In Hot Housing Market The hardest part of buying a home at the moment is finding one that is available and that you can afford. However, getting the mortgage is harder than usual as well. Lenders are maintaining very tight financial requirements for borrowers, and entry level mortgages for affordable starter…

Most Homeowners Are Missing Out On Refinancing Opportunities Almost half of US homeowners say that they have not considered refinancing their home this year. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of how the mortgage markets work. 40% of homeowners do not know the interest rate that they are currently paying on…

Cash Investors Competing With New Home Buyers Affordable starter homes are getting harder and harder to find. This is the sector of the market that has the least available inventory and is also seeing the lowest rates of new construction. But even if a new home buyer can find a starter home to bid on,…

New Study Confirms Racial Bias In Mortgage Approval Algorithms A new analysis of data from over 2 million mortgage applications confirm that racial bias is baked in to the approval algorithms. While all minorities are affected, the bias most heavily impacts the black community. According to the study, black people were 80% more likely to…

Rates Rising As Fall Approaches At the beginning of August the real estate market was at an all time sweet point for homeowners. Mortgage rates were at rock bottom levels, housing prices were soaring, and sellers were sifting through multiple competing offers within days of listing their homes. As predicted, rates are rising and…

Mortgage Delinquency Numbers Are Falling At the beginning of the pandemic, millions of homeowners fell behind on their payments and enrolled in forbearance programs provided by the government. A year and a half later, most of the people who signed up for forbearance are now up to date on their mortgage. The delinquency rates…

Getting Pre-Approved Is Crucial In Today's Market Its not easy to buy a house in this hot market. Buyers face fast paced bidding wars when they find a property that they are interested in. If you're slow or don't offer enough, you lose the home. While getting pre-approved has always been good practice, in the…

Mortgage Rates Are Rising and Buyers Are Hesitating While rates will remain low for the foreseeable future, the numbers are starting to creep back up from their rock-bottom positions. The rising rates are partnered with lower demand for mortgages over the last week. It is too early to tell whether this is a temporary dip…

Lenders Are Keeping High Standards For Mortgage Approval The 2008 housing crisis was fueled by a surge in risky lending practices throughout the mortgage industry. The current boom may cause a bubble, but it won't be a credit bubble. Only applicants with great credit profiles are currently receiving mortgage approvals. This is the time to…