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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,186,228 times
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Back when property values were increasing 10% a year, little or no down meant the lender could still count on making back there money if the borrower defaulted on the load. They didn't have to worry about whether someone could really afford the loan or not. Now, when you buy a home with a 10% down payment, the value is more likely to go down, so if you can't make the payments they are more likely to take a loss. Add to that the low interest rates, which are taking money out of their pockets, and refinancing
is not as attractive to them. If you have extra cash to put up and can do a refinance at a lower rate and a lower balance, that offsets the future loss of value, they will be much happier to give you the loan.
If I were asked what was the one thing I wished the consumer would stop doing:
Please stop filling out online lender forms and hitting submit to the black hole. You just agreed for anyone associated with that site to pull your credit, which they will do......The internet companies are not there for customer service, telephone calls and discussions about what is best for you. Online is great for someone that really understands the industry and can spot places that don't abuse the system, and can move forward without assistance, but not the average consumer.
i understand where you are coming from but i also wanted an easy way to see ballpark figures of what i could do, see if it was worth it or not. if you don't have the time really, or have a bunch of kids with you at all times..its hard to sit down and talk with people for extended periods of time until later in the evening when the spouse is home...but the banks employees etc are also at home.
as far as home prices(to the last poster) i understand that. fortunately the entire bubble missed my area for whatever reason and we aren't close to being underwater on the refi.
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