Memories at ActiveRain Contest....oh, so many! This blog is still very pertinent. Amazingly I am still getting ratified contracts for folks who have not talked to a lender. WHAT!!!!???

It Pays to Pre-Qualify As Soon As Possible (originaly posted 03/2008)

Ok...enough with my sad attempts at humor. I have a real question for the Realtors out there. Is it common to let your client (buyer) wait until the very last days of the purchase contract to get them in front of a Loan Officer for Pre-Qualification?  I am seeing this quite often...it's as if everyone assumes that because the buyer tells you they are well qualified that it does in fact mean that the buyer is well qualified. Hmmmm....since when do we take their word for it? Especially now that we have desperate sellers who are hanging on by a threat hoping against hope that their home will FINALLY sell with out a hitch.

I have had 3 such scenarios come to pass in the last month and guess what....programs have changed and credit criteria for those loan programs have tightened up like never before. Will that relax soon....maybe..maybe not.

The long and the short of it is that these folks are 5 -6 days away from sitting down at the closing table and they don't qualify for any type of loan. I'm a lender but I also have the ability to broker unusual or tricky loans. (not any more!) My products are becoming more and more limited and I am finding this to be a troubling phenomenon.

I am also seeing Realtors who are afraid to take the bull by the horns and give their clients direction that will ultimately benefit everyone in the transaction. If the buyer calls the shots we all loose...including the buyer most of all! That would be like me walking into the dentist and telling him when and how we are going to be extracting my compacted wisdom teeth. I really need a knowledgeable dentist who is willing to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I need a dentist who isn't afraid to hurt my feelings if it will save my overall long term health. A mortgage can last a very long time. Please get your buyers in front of a qualified respectable Loan Officer ASAP to head off issues, explore ever changing loan options and to build that beautiful Realtor/Loan Officer relationship. 

    I for-see many more changes to the industry before the dust settles. Hang on and stay tuned for more from the Mortgage Maven.