Mortgages - Imagine That!!

On this date in history...

English astronomer Edmund Halley sees his namesake comet in 1682.

Robert Fulton began operating his steamboat in 1807.

General Robert E. Lee invaded the North with 50,000 Confederate troops in 1862.

George Eastman patented thefirst roll-film camera and registered the name "Kodak" in 1888.

1st transcontinental TV broadcast by President Harry S. Truman addressing the opening of Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in 1951.

Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven Olympic gold medals in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

Palestinians hijack KLM DC-9 to Cyprus in 1976.

Today is Newpaper Carrier Day - Barney Flaherty became the 1st newsboy (10 years old for the NY Sun) in 1933.


Mortgages

There are definitely mortgages to be had out there and some very good ones at that. You just won't be able to find the easy no documentation, low down payment & stated income mortgages of the past.

The reasoning is quite obvious. Goodness knows we've heard the news. And this is all understandably so. People need to properly qualify for mortgages. This is a major part of the breakdown of the mortgage industry. In the recent past, people with borderline credit were afforded mortgages. Some of these were low down payments; some ARM's in which they were only able to qualify at the initial rate not the fully indexed rate. This should have been common sense all along, but 20/20 hindsight does not prove anything. Hopefully, the lesson will be learned from this and we will not see a repeat of such.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for helping someone achieve homeownership. I consider that the crux of my job. I get such a thrill out of helping people achieve this goal - the supposed American Dream. But I can not in all good consciousness afford someone this fully knowing that they will probably have an issue repaying this debt and putting them in a position of possibly losing their investment, savings & home. The thought of that is abhorrent to me.

But there are some very good loan products out there. Yes, most of these are for people with good credit. But then this might be a wake up call for someone with marginal credit to try to work on improving that. This can be done, but let me warn you about credit counseling services. Firstly, the use of these usually ruins your credit to begin with. Secondly, what they are doing, you should be able to do yourself.

It's called discipline.

Til next time...Marc It Sold!