RISMEDIA, February 19, 2009-The following commentary was submitted by Rosie Rains, owner of Capital Financial Advisors Mortgage in Los Angeles, a boutique mortgage firm. Rains also is the author of “The Little Black Book of Wealth Building Mortgage Secrets,” (McGraw Hill) and has appeared on The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch and other news programs. Rains recently submitted the following commentary on the stimulus package:
“I am frustrated at the futile attempts this proposed stimulus package is taking toward jump starting the housing market. The firm I run is “A” paper super jumbo loans to borrowers who are six- to seven-figure incomes and typically small business owners. I have found it increasingly difficult to get these excellent borrowers loans. In December I submitted 22 loans equaling $30 million, all excellent borrowers, but to my dismay only one borrower was approved. These are the borrowers that are entrepreneurs who create jobs and stimulate spending and I simply cannot get a deal approved. Lenders have all but cut out the wholesale broker, who represents 70% of loan origination nationwide.
What the government is failing to acknowledge is that the federal regulators have restricted lending guidelines to the point of total suffocation. The lenders simply are not allowed to lend because of the federal restrictions and ridiculous underwriting standards imposed by the government. Why doesn’t anyone talk about this issue? This is the heart of the problem. This is what I hear from every lender I deal with.
In the meantime they keep stimulating the conforming market for low income buyers. Where is the sense in this? These are the people who cannot afford homes. A proposed $15,000 tax credit for first-time buyers?* What about tax credits for existing home owners struggling to survive? At the core of the sub-prime crisis are borrowers who put little to no money down on their homes when they purchased. Please tell me why FHA still promotes these loans. Borrowers who have their own money invested are less likely to walk away and I see it time and time again. And why do conforming loans still allow low credit scores?
I have been in this business for 25 years and am continually perplexed by the lack of understanding of the mortgage industry . It’s simple: If lending does not return to the jumbo market, the market will not recover.
Rains is the owner of Capital Financial Advisors Mortgage in Los Angeles. Contact her at (310) 444-7191 ext 126 or Rosie@thinkCFA.com. To learn more visit www.thinkcfa.com or www.rosierains.com.
*The $15,000 tax credit to home buyers was reduced in the revised stimulus bill. The approved version, signed into law by President Obama Tuesday allows for an $8,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers.
