September 6, 2007

The Credit Crunch is Over: Money is Available

But The Standards Have Tightened

I came across a an interesting article at the Wharton School of business at the U of Penn. According to Joseph Gyourko director of Wharton's Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center, the Mortgage freeze, whereby people with good FICO scores and solid downs could not get a mortgage is over. Now that is good news that should help stabilize the markets.

The article goes on to quote Todd Sinai, an associate professor at Wharton who makes the point that although money is available, the standards have tightened ( the reform correction after a bust) and that homes that need to sell may come down in price to meet the buyer.

The pendulum of any boom bust cycle is to go from a relaxing of the rules that allows too many weak players into the market to a washing out process of those players through a generally painful correction.

Often there is a stepping back as the markets reassess the risks (lending standards and cost of money are impacted by this). Reforms are instituted and the slowly markets get a life. This is the quiet period characterized little market activity and buyer shock. You can help your sellers price more realistically if they understood that their will be quite a few less buyers in the marketplace due to stricter rules.

Hang in There and Thanks for Reading

Howard Bell for Your Property Path

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