Personal Assistant Wades through Heavy Showers for Home Buyer

While at Leads at Lunch last Tuesday, Ron Hanson of Madrona Mortgage wore the hat of a weather man alerting local professionals to the mortgage forecast of the future

Gathered together in the Olive Garden every Tuesday are professionals referring leads to each other and making everyone aware of their business. The event, known as Leads at Lunch, is sponsored by the Thurston County Chamber. Tuesday, July 13th, everyone sat quietly eager to hear Hanson's presentation.

He began by explaining how lending works.

Lending used to be a stool that stood on four legs. From 1993-2006, the expanding mortgage industry made it easy to get loans, all you had to have was qualify for a couple of the legs. Such as good credit, income, property and a down payment.

Now, it is the opposite, it is harder to qualify for a loan and you have to meet all four legs of the stool. Even if you have an income, you also have to show the ability and stamina to keep the loan. In fact, one fourth of foreclosures happen simply because the owner chooses not to pay any more, regardless of their income.

“It takes an intentionally stout character to pay a mortgage every month, especially when the value of the property goes down,” Hanson said, “right now 37 percent of real estate are foreclosures.”

Things are changing too, when it comes to physically buying a loan. In 2006, you had to sign off on about 20 pages of paperwork showing  you knew what you were agreeing too.

Now, your loan package will be about 45 pages since it is more heavily regulated and the government has more to warn you about.

“The problem is that because the packages is bigger, no one is reading it and instead they are just scanning and signing it because they just want to get through it,” Hanson said.

Continuing on, Hanson kept everyone enthralled with his clear understanding of the mortgage forecast.

Another change in the mortgage industry is the appraisal process. Before, an appraisal person would come out to your property, upon the request of the mortgage agent, and appraise your property. Well due to increased government regulation, mortgage brokers now send a message to corporate and corporate sends appraisers out to appraise your property.

“I think it will be an automated system soon though,” Hanson added.

Even though technology is slowly taking over, the best way to buy a mortgage is to talk to someone about the reality of your situation and your needs, when it comes to buying property. I recommend talking to Ron Hanson, he is a personal and friendly guy that you can trust to tell your deepest fears about buying a house.You can email him at rhanson@madronamortgage.com