Mortgage News

Closing a refinance or purchase is taking longer than ever before. We talked to one person yesterday who was able to lock in a great rate for a short time, 15 days, and had to pay off his credit line because to keep it open you must receive written permission from that lender in 2nd position which can take up to six weeks and you must pay for the privilege of keeping the line open to obtain what is called a subordination agreement. So this customer had to pay off the line even though it was near the prime rate which is currently at 3.25%. Another delay that occurs is lenders are requiring field reviews, in other words a 2nd appraisal, which just getting scheduled takes time not to mention waiting for the report to be finished. As the rush to refinance continues another development is that many lenders won't even look at the deal until the appraisal is submitted along with the other documents. Naturally the appraisal is paid for by the customer in advance. There will be a lot of disappointed people who paid for appraisals and can't close for many varied reasons. Welcome to the new world of mortgage lending.