My Mostly Mortgage Blog

WOW! this is great news for all the Gloom and Doom naysayers that tend to focus on the Negative News.

This information comes from Paula Hellenbrand, the president of the Cape Coral Association of Realtors.

Lee County Home Inventory down 21% over this time last year:

Cape Coral Inventory down 33%

Fort Myers Inventory down 16%

Fort Myers Beach Inventory down 7%

North Ft Myers Inventory down 19%

Lehigh Acres Inventory down 11%

Lee County Condo inventory down 15% over this time last year:

Cape Coral Condo inventory down 23%

Fort Myers Condo inventory down 17%

Fort Myers Beach Condo inventory down 5%

North Ft Myers Condo inventory down 28%

Lehigh Acres Condo inventory down 12%

Here is where it gets really, really interesting!

 In January of 2009, Cape Coral had 795 pending sales and in February has 974 pending sales, that is compared with only 418 pending sales as of March 1st, 2008.

While credit card companies may care about what happened before you filed for bankruptcy, many mortgage lenders are more interested in your recovery — what you’ve done since your filing. It won’t happen over night, but here are some tips and things to keep in mind when you inquire about a mortgage with a tarnished credit past:

Give explanations. No mortgage lender is going to ignore the fact that you’ve filed bankruptcy and he or she will likely want to know the cause of the filing. Your lender will be particularly interested in whether the same situation could happen again. Your chances of being qualified are much better if your bankruptcy was caused by a single event such as a loss of employment or a death in the family, than if it was the result of “just spending too much.”

If the bankruptcy resulted from a single event, it is important to show your lender paperwork describing the incident, such as the layoff notice or death certificate. You may also want to bring in court documents to indicate when the bankruptcy was filed.

Demonstrate good money habits now. Many people who file bankruptcy swear off credit altogether, however, it is important to re-establish your credit rating. Get a secured credit card or take on some sort of loan — furniture, a car or a major appliance — to demonstrate that you are able to make timely payments. Make sure you are making other payments (utility bills, cell phone, etc.) on time as well. You won't turn things around in a year but your credit score will improve ovr time.

Dispute any credit report errors. There’s no need to add to your troubled credit history with errors on your credit report. Get a copy of your credit report and start repairing, see my Blog on Repairing.

Save your money. Lenders may be more willing to loan you money if you’ve saved up a considerable amount of money for a down payment.

Live within your means. Even subprime lenders won’t risk loaning you money for an opulent oceanfront mansion. Think small when the time comes to look for a home. Smaller homes often mean smaller mortgages.

What Banks are doing.

Credit card issuers are reducing available credit lines every day and causing major damage to credit scores. Don’t just agree, respond back in writing and insist that the available balance remain the same. They may in fact listen and leave the available balance alone or just reduce by a smaller amount. This will lessen the impact on your score by reducing the available credit by a smaller amount.

Don’t close old accounts. This will not help and will probably reduce your score. Instead, occasionally use those old accounts for regular occurring bills and then pay of immediately.

A word about installment loans.

You may want to look at moving some credit card debt to a personal installment loan. These loans may be at higher interest rates but they typically report more favorably then credit cards. Please be responsible when taking this approach.

It’s better to have small balances on several cards then a large balance on one card.