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Oct 9, 2008 7:48 pm US/Central
Real Problems for North Texas Real Estate Agents
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Dallas real estate agent Betty Mayes knows all too well about the sluggish Texas economy.
But wait, do the math. Betty sells homes. She has clients to buy those homes. So what's the problem? "The requirements for them to prove certain things to the lender are just unbelievable," Mayes explains. "It's one hoop, then another hoop and another. That wasn't happening before."
In simple terms, getting a loan today is harder than ever. "We're finding that even buyers with good credit and a good job history are finding it a little more difficult to get a loan," says Mayes.
In fact, even people with good credit are being told, "no".
Gone are the days of the 100% loan. Buyers are being asked to put down more of their own cash, which is money many of them simply don't have.
Those looking to buy a million dollar home are being told to forget it unless they can put down a third in cash. Jumbo loans are also a thing of the past.
But Mary Beth Harrison, with Keller Williams, says it's not all 'doom and gloom'. "We never saw that meteoric rise in price that you saw in California, New York and Florida where things were going up 20, 30, even 50-percent in appreciation, which is crazy."
While that type of appreciation was happening in other states, North Texans saw their homes appreciate only four to six-percent. Experts say, that turned out to be a blessing since home values in those other states are now plummeting; making it harder to get a loan there than here.
North Texas mortgage banker Reid Mitchell puts the chances of getting a loan in perspective. Mitchell says he's turning down nearly half of those who apply for home loans; even before they start looking at houses.
Both Mayes and Harrison agree that the weak economy is likely to eliminate more than a quarter of the real estate agents currently working in North Texas.
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