Friday, 30 August 2013

Subprime Mortgage Houston Application Guide For Home Buyers

By Amanda Baird


Texas home buyers seeking a good deal on a subprime mortgage Houston lenders may be offering need to prepare hard if they want to experience the pleasure and pride of living under their own roof. The whole thing has become very difficult ever since excesses in approving subprime mortgages led to the real estate crash, which in turn pulled the whole world into the Great Recession. A home buyer now has to go through a lot more red tape to get a proposal approved.

This discussion is about people whose credit scores have dropped below 620 because they have late or missed payments in their credit history, and perhaps even a foreclosure. It means they are not eligible for conventional fixed-rate mortgages. Lenders will only consider such risky borrowers if there is a chance to collect higher interest through variable rate mortgages.

After an initial period where the interest rate is set low, customers start paying higher interest pegged to an index and typically updated each year. Prior to the market crash, these loans were easily available with low down payments and very little in the form of supporting documents. This resulted in a flood of subprime mortgages being approved that are now underwater.

Many of these home owners no longer have enough income to meet the monthly payments, but even foreclosure will not be enough to clear the amount due. As a result, no lender will now approve a risky proposal without clear proof of sufficient income and big down payments. Most lenders will ask the borrower to come up with anywhere from 20-40 percent of the property value.

One good thing is that there are no penalties for prepayment. The whole concept is based on an assumption that the borrower's credit will improve soon and allow for faster repayment. The same holds true for refinancing to convert the proposal into a low-interest mortgage with relatively smaller monthly payments.

The trickiest part is getting in touch with the right lender. Since these practices have gotten so much negative publicity, lenders no longer advertise their subprime lending business. Home buyers have to contact a lot of lenders, and hope that one of them can do it or refer the customer to a sister concern or affiliated company.

Put together a file that includes all required supporting documents. The latest income tax return is a must, and so is a bank statement and pay slips for at least the last two months. A letter from the employer which states the applicant is in good standing in the job will also be needed.

It is recommended that applicants include bills that have been paid off recently. Car loan payments, credit card bills and other items that prove the applicant is currently balancing the books properly will be helpful. The intention here is to prove that the bad rap in the credit history was just a temporary thing that is now completely in the past. This is just about the only means of convincing subprime mortgage Houston lenders to approve a proposal on fairly good terms.




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