The Big Mortgage Meltdown . . . Does this effect me?

So, Chicken Little is in the market for a new home but wants to know if the sky is really falling?!?!?

Oh, sure we've all heard the doomsday predictions about the mortgage market, especially Alt-A and Sub-prime. Is is really all that bad? Yep. There are still buyers who want to buy but lenders are becoming quite stingy. They have been burned (while playing with matches) and they are not about to start another fire. They were lending lots of money to every Tom, Dick and Harry with the only criteria being a pulse. Now that so many loans are going bad (approaching 2% of all loans and as much as 15-20 percent of recent loans) the mortgage companies - at least the ones still in business - are tightening restrictions. Now instead of lending to every warm, breathing body they actually want to scrutinize a borrower's job history, assets and credit score. Next they will be asking for blood tests and health screenings. Can you believe they actually want to make sure a borrower can repay a loan! What a concept!

So, does any of this matter? In the long run, probably not. For the next 3-5 years though it is going to mean some big problems for the economy (local and national). I am a real estate investor and change always brings opportunity! Foreclosures galore! There is money to be made in the misfortune and bad judgement of others. The only problem is that I can't get the great loans I used to for buying the bargains! Now, I have to put more down and document my assets or go with "hard money" (short-term 60-90 day loans with high fees and rates). Now I need better bargains than ever!!! Oh, but they are there!

Now, where have all the buyers gone? Oh yeah, they are having trouble getting loans . . . but at least they can be my tenants! Everyone has to live somewhere . . .

How can you make the Mortgage Meltdown and Foreclosure Fiasco work for you?  Keep reading all my free info and when you decide you are ready to start investing, check out the product section for my step by step Real Estate investing system.

- LuckyLarson 10-25-07