There once was a day, not long ago, when it seemed as though lenders would simply check to feel if a borrower had a pulse before they would print loan docs for a $600,000 home purchase. Mortgage Company owners in 2003 - 2005 attempted to entice some of us mortgage originators to join their companies from the cockpit of their new Ferrari or with partnerships in their luxury yachts or Private Jets. Money was being given away and nearly all metropolitan hubs were buzzing to the hum of soaring equity and their mental cash registers.
Well now that the days of the 1% teaser rates with a 580 FICO score, No Income - No Assets and 125% financing are over and we are back to common sense underwriting, I am glad to see that many of the Riff Raff mortgage unprofessionals will be jumping the mortgage banking ship in 08.
With the entire global economy feeling the shockwave of our mortgage industry, 2008 is going to be a year of slow recovery and eventual (fingers and toes crossed that the Feds injections of liquidity help) US economic resilience similar to the dexterity that was displayed months after Black Monday 1987 or the days of "Irrational Exuberance" of the .com crisis.
In 2008 we, the Active Rain Real Estate Community along with the rest of the real estate professionals should be excited to educate our current databases and the new generation of real estate investors that real estate is still a sound long term investment with todays low conforming rates, the time to invest in a second home for Baby Boomers (in Hawaii (o:) has never been better and that getting back to the traditional basics of saving for a down payment, keeping debts in control and monitoring credit should be the focus of all first time homebuyers. Although many are in a position where they are leveraged by their current real estate and can not fathom purchasing right now, there will be many opportunities for first time home buyers and investors in 2008.
Last but not least we must remember that we are still at War, and that thousands of our friends, daughters, brothers, fathers, mothers and loved ones are in the Middle East protecting the Freedom that we enjoy each and every day. Write a soldier in 2008! I am committed to helping our Veterans with their VA Home Loans and helping them obtain their well deserved piece of the American Dream in 2008!
Happy New Year!!!
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