Getting a loan is not easy now!

Borrowers with good credit but without 5 or 10 percent to put down are likely to be shocked at the rate they're offered, if they're offered a mortgage at all. Lenders are eliminating certain products altogether as well as requiring higher credit scores and down payments, more extensive appraisals, larger savings accounts, and additional income verification.

"We thought the dust was going to settle, but instead, it just blew up," says Mitchell Reiner, president of Mortgage Associates, a Los Angeles-based lender that does business in 48 states. "Everyone is being affected."

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Karp (08/14/2007)

More on Lending: There are many borrowers struggling with their current loans and since most of these loans were sold in the secondary market the lender no longer has control or workout options. Now they are in a credit market where they can’t qualify for a refinance. In yesterday’s SacBee article about the subprime loan crisis there was a wonderful quote from a lender who said, “"Loans are like cooking chicken," Everybody knows how, but there's a few of us like the colonel who have secret recipes." I am fortunate to be working with a lender who has a few recipes herself so if you are looking for a loan or need to refinance, let me know and I will be glad to put you in contact with her.