Getting a home loan ain't what it used to be...

The owner of our company, Michael Williamson, is buying a Studio City home to live in.  He talked with our office this a.m. on his challenges in getting a home loan.  Mind you, he has gotten home loans 16 times before and says, "I thought I knew everything." Of course, he's putting down a lot of cash and has a very high FICO score too.

But getting a loan ain't as easy as it used to be, says Michael.  It took him an extra 16 days to get loan approval.  The lender kept asking for one piece of paper after another, and one explanation letter after another.  This even involved asking about ONE missed payment from a tenant on a property he owns in Palm Springs!  And this guy is way more qualified than most buyers.

So if you're a home buyer, and your lender asks you for something that doesn't make sense, don't get frustrated, just provide what you can as quickly as you can.  And if you're a home seller, please know that the lender doesn't particularly care about our contractual deadlines and go easy on your home buyers if loan stuff is late -- it truly is out of their hands.

The Realtor makes an offer, Chapter 4: How will this end?

We did not get the Toluca Lake townhouse that we made the offer on.

We offered full price.  So did the listing agent's clients.

Our terms were good.  So were the listing agent's clients.

We were going to put 20% down.  The listing agent's clients were putting more down.  According to the listing agent, that's what persuaded her seller to take their offer and not ours.  Of course, the listing agent will get the full 6% commission, but I'm sure that had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with who the listing agent's seller picked.

Will we continue to look? Maybe.  Maybe not.  Right now, we're busy licking our wounds.