What was so unusual about Phillip Ratliff’s experience in getting approval for his first mortgage was that it wasn’t difficult at all — even though he could afford a down payment of only 5 percent.
In the years after the housing bubble burst, borrowers had to practically promise their firstborn child to secure a mortgage.
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And while the requirements are still pretty rigorous, particularly for those with less than perfect credit, there are signs that at least some regional lenders and mortgage insurers are beginning to ease up. Some regional banks and credit unions are even offering products that vaguely resemble the more aggressive financing that became all too common during the boom days and eventually got many borrowers into trouble.
The piggyback loan, for instance, is back, mortgage lenders and brokers said. That is when borrowers take out two mortgages simultaneously (or a mortgage and a line of credit) so they can avoid the private mortgage insurance required on traditional mortgages for more than 80 percent of the home’s value.
And some credit unions, including Navy Federal and NASA Federal Credit Union, are offering 100 percent financing, at least in markets where home values have stabilized and appear to be on the upswing. U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo said they still allowed use of piggyback loans.
The big difference this time, lenders and mortgage brokers say, is that the loans are not being made to just anyone but to borrowers who can afford to pay them back (at least for now).
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