Navigating the changing Mortgage Market:  you can still get a great loan -- if you know how.

For several months now, news headlines screamed "the sky is falling" when referring to the mortgage market.  And therein lies what is behind the cause-and-effect of the recent media blast about all that is wrong with mortgages.  And like Chicken Little, most of us bought into it.  The fact is that the nay-sayers overlooked all that was RIGHT with that market in their rush to scary headlines and portents of doom. 

NEW LIMITS, GOOD RATES, EASIER QUALIFYING, BRIGHTER PICTURE

The real fact is that Conventional Loan rates stayed lower than they have been in some time... and there is no such thing as "predatory lending" on a Fannie Mae Program loan. 

Everyone was hurt, mostly homeowners who couldn't get the loans needed to buy or continue in their homes.  Jumbo loan rates skied -- if you could qualify for one at all as home values dropped and  our equity disappeared.  Second loans became as scarce as hens' teeth.  Qualifying became difficult if not impossible for most home owners.

With one signature of a Presidential Pen, the gloom has lifted, and we can do very positive things.  With the conforming limit going up from $417,000 to $729,750, many purchasers and refinancers can go from Jumbo loan programs back to Confoming loans.  The rate is much, much lower.  The qualification is much, much easier.  All because the government supports conforming loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so the lenders don't have to worry about buying back failing loans.

NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE OUTLOOK

And like the negative psychology blared far and wide by the media that led to the mortgage collapse, we are now getting closer to a positive psychology which will inspire confidence with the firms that buy loans.  And this means that bit by bit we will be seeing new programs that will give us a reasonable and economic way to buy or refinance.

The sky has stopped falling! Hurrah, Hurrah!