Qualifying for a mortgage has gotten much tougher, analysis shows - latimes.com
To fit the profile of just the average successful applicant for a conventional home purchase mortgage in February, the latest month for which data are available, here's what you would have needed:
•A FICO credit score of 764. Not only is this higher than the average score for approved loans as recently as November, it's far beyond the 620-640 FICOs that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once considered the minimum for a conventional prime mortgage. It's also well above the median FICO score nationwide, which is currently 711, according to a spokesman for Fair Isaac Corp, developer of the score.
•A loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 78%, signifying a down payment of 22%. This is higher than even the controversial minimum of 20% proposed last year by Obama administration financial regulatory officials who were seeking a standard for "safe" loans offering the lowest available rates and best terms.
•Debt-to-income ratios of 21% for housing expenses, 34% for total household monthly debt.
How about the profiles of people who applied for conventional loans to buy a house but were rejected or didn't get to closing? By historical standards, they were a fairly impressive group on average as well, with 732 FICO scores, 19% down payments and debt-to-income ratios of 24% (housing costs) and 41% (total debt).
Homeowners who refinanced existing conventional loans had the best profiles of all: average 770 FICOs, 65% LTVs indicating 35% equity stakes, and debt-to-income ratios of 22% housing and 32% total debt..
It doesn't matter what the house price is, if you can't qualify (20% down!!), no sale.
No comments:
Post a Comment