Lending Misconceptions

I recently got quite frustrated listening to an NPR interview where the "expert" was describing how it is basically impossible to get a mortgage.  His claims that you better have 20% down and a 740 credit score if you want to buy a house were just flat out wrong.  Sure, conventional loans are often requiring 20% down and higher credit scores than they used to but:

 1. They are not impossible to get.  I have buyers getting great rates on conventional loans for investment properties.  The expert was basically saying just forget it if you want a conventonal investment loan.

 2.  There is other financing out there.  Right now the PHFA is lending to people with credit scores as low as 580, only 3 percent down and at rates as low as 3.75% with no points.  If I were a first time buyer, who got all of my information from the news, I would think it nearly impossible to get a mortgage, when really with a steady job, somewhat decent credit, and 3% down I could be in a home fairly quickly.

3.  If you do want a conventional loan, have a good credit score and some cash on hand, interest rates, housing inventory, and housing prices make it one of the best times to buy in recent history. 

While I'm on the topic of media misconceptions, I also would like to talk about the market.  The Philadelphia market is better than the national market!  Most market experts expect modest gains in housing prices in Philadelphia in the future.  I love when the national housing market statistics are reported repeatedly in local media with no referance to the fact that Philadelphia is doing better than the national trends.