Tim Romp presented today on changes in the lending market and how they can affect first-time home buyers, homeowners who want to refinance, and lending practices in the area.
Tim started with the distinction between a lender and a broker. Tim’s company, First Heritage Mortgage, is a mortgage lender. A customer can enjoy several advantages from working with a lender who is invested in the local market, as First Heritage and Tim are. Having a local loan officer and a local lender means that it’s easier to get direct answers to your questions quickly, for one thing.
Another thing is processing time. Processing a mortgage application is a team effort, and some lenders may have team members dispersed throughout the country. This can add days to the time from application to approval. Similarly, a local team working the local market is more knowledgeable about actual market prices and conditions than a broker who may be in another part of the country.
The “screaming hot” environment of recent years has given way to a more restrictive mindset on the part of many lenders, with tighter standards on income verification, credit scores, and other criteria. At the same time, though, the market is changing weekly, as the government, banks, and other institutions try to cope with the real estate market’s downturn. “If you got pre-approval a month ago,” Tim says, “you may want to re-visit that,” because of changes currently underway.
We had two first-time visitors for this week’s meeting: Isabel Wang of Outdoor Connection, and Karsten Bach of De Selvstaendiges A-Kasse. Karsten is a BNI member from Copenhagen, Denmark. He’s on vacation with his family, and decided to hit a BNI meeting while in DC. Rohit Punj of Key Commercial Solutions also paid us a second visit.
Next week’s scheduled presenter is Ricardo Molina of Handyman Services.
