SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The government's rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is sparking a resurgence in loan activity after rates dropped sharply this week. With interest rates in the mid to high fives, the phones have been busy at many Bay Area mortgage brokerage firms.
“People are actually take action. They’re buying, refinancing…” said Narbik Karahmian of Arvest Financial in Los Gatos. He says people are upgrading their homes and their zip codes.
“We got a lot of phone calls… people putting offers on a home, starting the paper work, and all of sudden documents started coming.”
KCBS’ Holly Quan reports
Those documents are still essential. To get approved for these lower interest rates, lenders are still going to be meticulous about checking the qualifications of borrowers.
“The lending process I think continues to get tighter and tighter. I have not seen it loosen it up one bit, I have only seen it get more and more stringent, asking for more and more documentation,” said Fis Ghobadian of Guarantee Mortgage.
Lower rates are not necessarily helping out homeowners who are overextended or do not have enough equity in their homes.
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