Realtor Stops Immigrant Loans
| AR Articles on Immigration |
|---|
| Fade to Brown (May 2003) |
| Waging War on America (Jun. 1998) |
| Halting the Flow (Aug. 1995) |
| Search AmRen.com for Immigration |
| More news stories on Immigration |
Su Casa Realty, one of the biggest real estate agencies catering to Hispanic immigrants in Memphis, has largely stopped selling homes to people without Social Security numbers, often a sign that they are here illegally.
Juan Romo, part owner of the Century 21 franchise, said mortgage programs for people who lack Social Security numbers aren’t likely to come back as banks clamp down on credit in response to the sub-prime housing crisis.
{snip}
Also, it’s increasingly hard for illegal immigrants to keep steady jobs, he said.
“I think (getting these loans) is going to be more difficult every time,” he said.
It’s against the law to enter the country without inspection or overstay a visa, but businesses have been successful in lobbying for lax enforcement.
Many people here illegally use fake documents to get jobs, and some earn enough to buy homes.
But the economic slowdown, particularly in construction labor, may mean fewer illegal immigrants can afford them. And there’s anecdotal evidence that many employers are checking documents more carefully and turning illegal immigrants away.
Federal law still allows banks to offer mortgages to illegal immigrants. Banks have typically required these immigrants to present an individual tax identification number, or ITIN.
The federal government issues these numbers so that workers can file income tax forms regardless of their immigration status.
{snip}
Su Casa had been using an ITIN program from the Bank of Bartlett, but Romo said the bank ended the program this year after the mortgage insurer it was using made a national decision to stop insuring the loans.
{snip}
Romo said he’s done with ITIN mortgages for now. “It’s better to invest your time with people with bad credit now than with the ITIN number.”
(Posted on April 10, 2008)
Comments
Why is it federally endorsed to lend American money to illegal immigrants? Who voted that into law?
Posted by NorthAmericanWhiteMan at 7:12 PM on April 10
In related news, during the height of the subprime voulez-vous les bon temps roulet , banks were approving mortgages based on 65% of the applicants’ gross income going to mortgage payments. Perhaps this is a clue to how desperate the banks were to hand out mortgages to blacks and Hispanics. Time was that number was 28% back in the more reasonable days. Now, that we’re financially hung over, the number is around 33%.
Posted by Question Diversity at 8:08 PM on April 10
“It’s better to invest your time with people with bad credit now than with the ITIN number.”
Actually, it better to invest your time with individuals who happen to be here legally than those with ITIN numbers. The current sub-prime crises arose in large part because of a government mandate to supply homes to the poor, minorities and illegals—all groups who happen to be poor risks. Now that they find that they can’t afford to make the payments on houses that they should never have been allowed to purchase, the government, meaning the tax payers, are there to bail them out.
Isn’t it a crime to “aid or abet” an illegal, much less to sell him/her a house?
Posted by at 8:51 PM on April 10
I remember being angry at first when banks started making loans to “undocumented immigrants.” I realized that, from the lenders point of view, the risks of lending weren’t too great. They figured if the aliens got deported then they’d get to keep a house that had appreciated in value, with the illegal nowhere in sight.
While I prayed for the banks and mortgage lenders to get their comeuppance I never quite realized it would happen both so quickly and in such a grand manner. When the market started its freefall the borrowers who had made no down payments (a great many of them illegal aliens) saw themselves holding loans on a product now worth more than they were paying, and with no incentive not to walk away. And they did.
Poetic justice indeed.
Posted by Alan at 3:42 PM on April 11
So, banks were willing to give loans to illegals…interesting. That defies Economics 101 and Common Sense 101. Anytime I tried to get a loan, I had to pass a rigorous examination of my work histroy, credit history etc, because a bank (lender) has to balance risk and needs some assurance of getting their money back.
Did they really think that day-laborers in the country without proper ID or legal status were not a risk?
Or were they planning on mass repossesions of the homes via foreclosures and planning to sell them in a rising market?
And if the market dropped out (as it did) did they already know that the feds would bail them out, courtesy of the American taxpayer?
Hmmm………….
And as April 15th approaches, once again I ask myself “Is the government spending my $45,000 contribution prudently?”
Posted by Lucas M at 4:05 PM on April 11
Buying a house is an excruciating process; paying out of pocket for an appraisal, home inspection, termite inspection, closing costs, surveys, verification of income, employment, etc. Obviously minorities aren’t held to the same scrutiny that White borrowers are or the banks wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in. This is discriminatory and amounts to unfair banking practices.
Posted by at 8:37 PM on April 12