by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

I got what I thought was a very interesting and thoughtful e-mail last week from Jessica Horton, a Realtor down in Georgia, who I’ve gotten to know.   She and I have chatted a bit both online and over the phone about the markets, the dynamics of today’s lending rules and the ins and outs of structuring deals.   Oh, and we are both authors on the Bloodhound Blog.

I’ve taken Jessica’s e-mail and my response and turned them into a post.    I’ve eliminated a few minor conversational tidbits but I’ve left the majority of our e-mail conversation intact.

Why am I reposting this?

For three main reasons:

  1. I’ve been in the mortgage business for 21 years now and I have never seen as challenging of an environment as we have now.   Yeah, we’ve had ups and downs and economic slow times, but a combination of falling property values, rising unemployment and tightening underwriting guidelines have made this the most challenging market I’ve ever been in.
  2. The days of assuming that any lender can get a loan done and that anyone can get a mortgage are over and they aren’t coming back any time soon.
  3. I found it very refreshing that a Realtor is taking a good hard look at who they want to recommend to their clients and not looking at it only from the standpoint of “who’s going to buy me lunch.”

I found it very refreshing that Jessica was talking to a number (I don’t know how many) lenders and was attempting to understand better how they work and what their processes and procedures are for making sure that things go smoothly.    With the HVCC and the new MDIA and the pending changes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the rate a lender offers will always be important, but their ability to get things done is more important than it has ever been.

Take a few minutes and read through the exchange.   Jessica’s questions are in “normal” print and my answers are in bold and italics.

Tom

Jessica,

See below.   Thanks for giving me this opportunity.

Tom Vanderwell

From: Jessica Wynn Horton [mailto:jessicahorton30292@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:58 PM
To: Tom Vanderwell at Straight Read more