La Veta – Cuchara Valley Blog

By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine.  

 It’s still early but there are signs the availability of jumbo financing might be improving—although underwriting standards probably won’t ease any time soon. That means the days of creditworthy borrowers having a tough time getting financing for an amount over the conforming loan limit might be ending but they’ll still have to come up with a significant down payment and be prepared to show lots of documentation, like three years worth of tax returns instead of the customary two.   In other words, the improving lower-end housing market and the rising stock market are helping to push big financial services companies back into the business of loaning money rather than hoarding cash. As a result, it’s not just safe agency loans that lenders are willing to make (Fannie, Freddie and FHA) but also non-conforming jumbo loans. That helps further the narrowing of the interest rate spread between comforming and non-conforming loans.