Consolidation in the market

Hurricane Ike didn't hit the Texas coast, instead the real hurricane hit Wall Street. Merrill Lynch being sold to bank of America, Lehman Brothers going bankrupt, now Washington Mutual has ousted its leader and has put itself up for sale, and today Morgan Stanley is scrambling to find a buyer.

How does all this affect the real estate and mortgage market?

Simple; as the old Mamas and Papas song goes, "the darkest hour is just before dawn" applies here. Do not bet against America. We have been resilient before and we will again. It does look bleak out there, and there are many fewer options for financing today than there were two years ago, but that's what caused the problem in the first place. People who had no business buying homes did and what we have today is the result.

If you can show stable income, have money for a downpayment, and have paid your credit as agreed, you can get financing for real estate. You just can't get the stated 100% investor loan any more, and hopefully, it will never be available in the future.

Consolidation only means that there will be fewer options for borrowers, and you will have to be a real buyer to buy real estate, and a bonafide investor to purchase an investment property; gambling days are long gone, and from the looks of what is happening on Wall Street, we all lost.
At least for the time being.