As Charles Dickens famously wrote in his historical novel A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”
In the housing market, we are indeed living through a tale of dualistic conditions. Some homes are going on the market and being snatched up within 24 hours; Often these homes are obtaining multiple bids and even offers above asking price. Other seemingly comparable homes are sitting on the market without interest and attention.
Both serious buyers and serious sellers are being excluded from consideration because of certain financial confines. The market dictates that the “strongest offer” is the “accepted” offer, but when good proposals aren’t being considered because of a perceived stigma, money is being left on the table. Good buyers and good sellers are being sidelined…until now.
Recently, Approved Funding has started to arrange two unique and proprietary mortgage products that can assist with today’s evolving marketplace. These are loan options that use our private funds and are not available anywhere else in the market. Let me explain.
It is not uncommon for a pending home seller to have an interested buyer in their home, but they are reluctant to accept the offer because they don’t have the availability of funds to purchase a new home before the sale of their existing home. I recently received a call from a friend of mine who detailed his situation which is one that I often hear these days. His father-in-law has an accepted offer on a new home that he is downsizing to, but he does not yet have any buyers for his current home that is listed for sale. He was about to lose his accepted offer.
Another common and unfortunate situation is one where “all-cash” (i.e., no mortgage contingency) offers are being made on houses, even though mortgages are obtained nonetheless. The reality of the situation is if a builder or investor is truly buying your house “all cash” you are leaving money on the table as a seller. If the offer is coming from a bona-fide buyer who plans to live there yet does not adequately document the “liquid cash” to close the deal, you know they are applying for a mortgage. Sellers are being forced to tolerate buyers who are maneuvering within legal parameters while they delay and scramble to get financing. As a result, highly qualified, but unsavvy buyers, who would often offer more than these no contingency buyers are being excluded from consideration. Everyone loses.
The circumstances are widespread and are repeating itself on a weekly and sometimes daily basis.
We have introduced an “Approved Bridge-Loan Program” and an “All-Cash Alternative Guarantee” that can assist individuals in similar circumstances. These are unique loan offerings from Approved Funding which we custom-tailor to the individual cases to help bridge-the-gap, (no pun intended), to help home buyers and home sellers complete their transaction with ease. For further details, please reach out for a confidential consultation. Special shout out and happy birthday to Elie Y. Katz!
By Shmuel Shayowitz
Shmuel Shayowitz (NMLS#19871) is President and Chief Lending Officer at Approved Funding, a privately held local mortgage banker, and direct lender. Approved Funding is a mortgage company offering competitive interest rates as well as specialty niche programs on all types of Residential and Commercial properties. Shmuel has over 20 years of industry experience including licenses and certifications as a certified mortgage underwriter, residential review appraiser, a licensed real estate agent, and direct FHA specialized underwriter. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
