Actually, regardless of where you’re thinking about buying a new house (even though I’d LOVE to help you find your dream home here in the Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC area!), it’s important to know that lending criteria have changed dramatically. I know, I know, no shocker there.

Here’s an interesting commentary from Jack M. Guttentag of Yahoo! Real Estate:

“You’ll probably have to go to homeownership school.

You’ll have to prove you can really afford a mortgage.

You may have to reconsider your location.

And you’ll have to run a gauntlet of scrutiny.

Today’s mortgages are a far cry from boom time home loans, but they do exist and some lenders have money to burn.

“People used to qualify with stated income. Now there is more documentation. And they aren’t just documenting your income, but looking for assets in addition to your income and low debt-to-income ratios and low loan-to-value ratios,” said Asmaa Egal, mortgage broker, Loan Republic Financial in San Francisco.

The new brand of home loan has been customized with tighter controls and fewer defects to replace old mortgage models that crashed and burned when the economy hit the skids.

“You have to qualify. You have to prove your income. They have make-sense underwriting,” said, Quincy Virgilio, 2009 president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors and broker-owner Realty World CA Property Network in San Jose, CA.”

So now instead of simply being able to ‘say’ you qualify for a home mortgage you’re going to have to actually prove it.  I know, a novel idea.

Let me also clear up one common misconception.  Many people think that with the way the financial markets are going up and down right now that there it’s impossible to get a home loan.  NOT TRUE!

There is money available to purchase your new house here in Rock Hill SC  or Fort Mill SC, however, just as the statement above says, you now have to actually prove your income.  Yes, it’s a considerably larger pain in the back-side, but until things in the financial markets become more stable I’m afraid it’s what we’re going to have to live with!