guidelines - The Mortgage Porter

Student Loans and Qualifying for a Mortgage in Washington State (2026 Guide)

If you’re a Washington State homebuyer carrying student loan debt, you’re far from alone. According to the National Association of Realtors, 37 percent of first-time homebuyers also have student loan debt — and many are surprised to discover that student loans don’t have to stand between them and homeownership in cities like Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, or Spokane.

The key is understanding how lenders count your student loans when calculating your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio. Different mortgage programs handle student debt differently, and the rules have changed significantly since 2015. Here’s what Washington State homebuyers need to know right now. [Read more…]

Refinancing Guidelines Need to Loosen Up for Housing Recovery

This subject has been gnawing at me for a while and I’m actually surprised I haven’t written about it here before. In order for the housing market to really start recovering, I believe that the underwriting guidelines need to relax. Whoa–you say, isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place? Well, I’ll argue that it was more of folks being able to buy more than they could afford (via stated income) that drove up prices and put them into homes where they could never afford the the payments over folks who used home equity by consolidating debts or doing who knows what with the cash (hopefully they banked it…in a safe place). [Read more…]