See how the mortgage market is around your area

[Lathander]

http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/

[Corth]

Thanks, Lathander. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a map of only non-prime mortgage statistics. You can toggle between subprime and alt-a but prime mortgages are not reflected in these statistics.

[teflor the ranger]

In general a sub-prime mortgage is lending at a higher rate than prime. Prime rate is generally meant to describe the rate at which banks will lend to their favored customers on their favored products. In the US this rate is mostly influenced by the rate at which the Federal Government will lend to banks.

Sub-prime mortgages are made to those who do not qualify for prime rate lending, or in other words, those without good credit histories, stable job, and liquid (liquifiable) assets.

[Corth]

Thats generally right Teflor. Alt-A on the other hand, which is not considered prime, can be made to people with very good credit scores. Even better than some prime borrowers. A lot of those alt-a loans are the no-doc 'liar loans' where the loan application was taken on its face without any documentation verifying the information provided. Also, a lot of the negative ammortization loans which were really prevalent in california are classified as alt-a.

[teflor the ranger]

I've handled quite a few alt-a loans. Only one of them felt ok, the rest were soooooo shady.