The past few years it has been difficult for most indiviudals to get a mortgage.  For the most part, mortgage modifications didn’t work, banks were not reducing principal, and any “government programs” were nothing but a crule joke.  The inclement real estate weather appeared to be socked in for the long haul.  Your credit score didn’t matter – all that mattered to any lender was your income.  I am sure I don’t need to go into detail about what happened to most people’s income.

It appears that we may, after a long and harsh mortgage market, be encountering some long awaited thawing.  I recently had a conversation wtih a branch manager from a regional bank regarding lending practices.  She indicated that she had recently completed a $50,000 unsecured lne of credit to a professional individual who had two short sales on his record.  She also indicated that the bank may possibly do mortgages on spec homes.  This, of couse, was not possible two years ago.

So the next logical question that I asked was, “When do you think banks will start lending on vacant land?”  Not surprising the answer that I received was, something to the effect of “not anytime soon”.

So the mortgage market is decidely not completly thawed.  But, clearly moving in the right direction.  This summer has been long and hot.  Lets hope it continues to work its majic on the mortgage business.