I recently attended a meeting with 30 experienced Realtors who were bemoaning the lack of Jumbo financing and the negative impact on real estate sales over $1 million. Soon thereafter I went on Broker Tour and heard much of the same conversation.
Since I have not run into the same problem and wondered why this was such a common belief, I started asking questions. I received two primary answers: 1) This is consistently reported in the press and 2) is proven by the fact that their preferred loan officer now offers only one and maybe two Jumbo programs compared to the huge array they previously offered.
Since I used to be a mortgage lender and maintain my lending contacts, I decided to devote a day to "financing homework" and give my associates a gift of the truth: the Press is WRONG and plenty of Jumbo financing is available.
Every lender has a specific level of risk they are willing to take and evaluate that risk differently. In order to minimize their risk, lenders have pared down their jumbo products to the bare minimum. Each lender appears to have chosen different products which they consider the lowest risk.
At the end of my "financing homework" research day, I had two full pages of Jumbo loans listed by company, loan officer, product, downpayment, credit score and interest rate. Every single product previously available to our clients is still available, just not with a single lender.
Survival Strategy - expand your network of qualified, professional Loan Officers in order to get the full array of financing options available.
Wendy Cutrufelli
Broker Associate
925.917.1135
The positions on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent Alain Pinel Realtors' positions, strategies or opinions.
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