The Associated Press reports that loans are being denied at a record pace.   According to the associated press, www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i28p_PCbyYs83kcnlV-GMcXCe55gD9B1QN202

Nearly one in three borrowers who applied for a mortgage last year was denied as lenders made it far more difficult to qualify.

In its annual look at mortgage practices among the nation's lending institutions, the Federal Reserve says the denial rate for all home loans was about 32 percent last year - about the same as in 2007.

The denial rates for Blacks and Hispanics were more than twice as high as the rate for white borrowers.

The data, collected from nearly 8,400 lenders, is required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975.

What does this mean? 

• It means that while the mortgage market still clips along at a decent pace, realtors and lenders need to work together to make sure that buyers get pre-approved to fight off any issues that may come during the loan process;
• It means that a borrower needs to move now if they are going to take advantage of the first time homebuyer's tax credit. 

This may be a result of bad loan officers submitting files that shouldn't be submitted in the first place.  Some of it may be borrowers who have no business applying for loans applied anyway.  But either way, the markets are tightening up.  Get moving now so that any issue that may exist can be troubleshooted.