I remember this song taught to me as a kid that goes, “Stay on the sunny side, always on the sunny side, stay on the sunny side of life. You’ll feel no pain as we drive you insane, so stay on the happy side of life.” I love how whimsical the song is and how it makes me laugh. It does remind me to focus on the positive, so here it goes with the mortgage market.
You can buy a house and you can get a mortgage
Here is what we have been able to do in the mortgage world lately:
• More and more lenders are making appraisals easier. We are able to use AXIS appraisals, which are based in the Bay Area (fewer Fresno- and Martinez-based appraisers doing appraisals in San Francisco).
• We have a lender that will do 90% loans to $979,750!! That means we can do a purchase of a $1,088,000 home with 10% down.
• Rates are still low.
• Lenders are still lending on live-work lofts.
• Lenders are still doing recent condo-conversions (TICs to condo).
• We have lenders that will still fund in the name of an LLC or corporation.
• We have two banks that will underwrite and approve a borrower based upon his/her assets and derive an analytical income for qualifying for the loan versus using income derived from tax returns. This is like a stated-income loan for those with lots of liquid assets.
• We have banks that will allow for a community second mortgage or an employer second mortgage, such as the SF Mayor’s Office of Housing program or Kaiser employee loans.
• Most condos can be FHA approved by sending in FHA approval packages to the California office or HUD. Turn-around time is 2-4 weeks.
The rest of the market? Just as tedious as it’s ever been. If you have to get a mortgage, hang in there. The paperwork is oppressive and the conditions are often silly, but it will happen. Call us if you need some help.