Yes, You CAN Get a Mortgage in Tri-Cities, WA

Tempers started to flair a week ago, when the Tri-City Herald published this article entitled Home Buying Getting Harder in the Tri-Cities.  Within hours my colleagues were calling me  – “Did you SEE that article?” and “What were they thinking?” or “How can they DO that?”. Great questions because the couple spotlighted in the article are the exception, rather than the rule.

…if that wasn’t hurdle enough, the Meads also went “through the wringer” trying to get a VA loan, even though they had steady jobs, savings and credit ratings in the mid to high 700s, said Jennifer Mead, 23, who works for a real estate agent.

“We actually had to delay closing twice” because lenders still were verifying their information, the Kennewick woman said.

A lender I work with was so angry about the story that his face was STILL red on Monday, two days after reading it.  He said it’s not that difficult, especially if the person/people applying for the loan have the qualifications listed above (regular income, good credit and some money in the bank).

SOME underwriters, after years of basically handing over the money with a smile, have turned 180 degrees away from that practice and now verify everything to the nth degree.  That CAN delay closing, so no one argues with that.  However, to focus on one couple who seem to have everything going for them and play up their difficulty in getting a loan is an erroneous angle to take.