3 years ago, if you wanted to buy a house, you called your lender, qualified easily for a loan, and then found a house to buy.
Now it is a new world! There are great loans out there....maybe loans that we will not see again for many years...but the road to having them approved and funded is completely different.
1) Qualification requires good credit and proof of income. Be ready to bare your soul and have patience, because the days of 15 minute loan approval are gone.
2) The banks are swamped with work, and have in most cases of course, reduced staffs to deal with the work. Even after pre-approval, there will be document and funding conditions during the process that may require you to do more work and can hold up the funding.
3) New laws regarding appraisers are putting up the price of appraisals, slowing down their completion and some would say, pressuring the appraisers to come in low. This went into effect on May 1st and will probably cause some disruption to "normal service".
It is a great time to buy property, but make sure you deal with a lender and a Realtor who really know what they are doing, and will discuss such issues as those above. Don't take "It'll all be OK...I have it under control" as a reassurance that it really is. Ask questions and insist on straight answers.
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