After a year of turbulence in the mortgage world, a degree of stability has returned. In 2008, many mortgage applicants felt that the mortgage world was governed by the whim of some ephemeral, capricious entity. Today, we have returned to the basics – Lenders are looking at Income, Credit and Equity (Assets) from the borrower.

In lending today, it's all about credit. Credit scores need to be 680 and above if a borrower is going to get a competitive interest rate.

Income will be verified (very few lenders offer “No Income Verification” anymore) by submitting recent pay stubs and W2’s and Tax returns if Self employed or Commissioned.

Assets will be verified by submitting all pages of bank statements for the most recent two months. TIP – Do Not move assets from one account to another as underwriting will drag your application along very slowly !!!!

The Interest rate chart below shows the history for the last 6 months. I will discuss what affects interest rates in next week’s installment.