Mortgage Underwriting in The United States - Collateral

Collateral

Collateral refers to the type of property, value, the use of the property and everything related to these aspects. Property type can be classified as the following in the order of risk from lowest to highest: single family residence, duplex, townhouse, low rise condominium, high rise condominium, triplex and four-plexes and condotels. Occupancy is also considered part of collateral. A home can be owner occupied, used as second home or investment. Owner occupied and second homes have the least amount of default, while investment properties have higher occurrences of default. Depending upon the combination of occupancy and type of collateral, the lender will adjust the amount of risk they are willing to take.

Besides occupancy and property type, value is also considered. It is important to realize price, value and cost are three different characteristics of a home. Price is the dollar amount that a seller agrees to sell a house to another party. Cost is the dollar amount needed to build the home including labor and materials. Value, which is usually the most important characteristic, is the dollar amount that is supported by recent sales of properties that have similar characteristics, in the same neighborhood and appeal to a consumer. Under fair marketing circumstances when the seller is not in distress and the housing market is not under volatile conditions, price and value should be very comparable.

To determine the value, an appraisal is usually obtained. In addition to determining the value of the property, it is the appraiser’s responsibility to identify the market conditions, the appeal and amenities of the neighborhood and the condition and characteristics of the property. Value is determined by comparing recent sales of similar neighboring properties. The appraiser may make reasonable adjustments to the sales price of the other properties for lot size, square footage of the home, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and other additions such as garages, swimming pools and decks. It is the underwriter’s responsibility to review the appraisal and request any further information necessary to support the value and marketability of the property. If the home needs to be foreclosed upon, the lender must be able to sell the property to recoup their losses.

The comparative analysis of the collateral is known as loan to value (LTV). Loan to value is a ratio of the loan amount to the value of the property. In addition, the combined loan to value (CLTV) is the sum of all liens against the property divided by the value. For example if the home is valued at $200,000 and the first mortgage is $100,000 with second mortgage of $50,000, the LTV is 50% while the CLTV is 75%. Naturally, the higher LTV and CLTVs increase the risk of loan. Furthermore, borrowers who contribute significant down payment (lowering the LTV) statistically have lower incidents of foreclosure.

The type of the loan also may affect the LTV and is considered when evaluating the collateral. Most loans include payments towards the principal balance of the mortgage. These pose the lowest risk since the LTV is decreasing as the mortgage payments are paid. Recently, interest only mortgage have become increasingly popular. These mortgages allow the borrower to make payments that simply meet the interest due on the loan without making any contribution to the principal balance. In addition, there are loans that allow negative amortization, which means the payments do not meet the interest due on loan. Therefore, the interest that is not paid is subsequently added to the principal balance of the loan. In this case, it is possible to owe more than the value of the home during the course of the loan, which exposes the lender to the highest risk.

To offset the risk of high LTV’s, the lender may require what is called mortgage insurance. Mortgage insurance insures the lender against losses that may occur when a borrower defaults on his or her mortgage. Typically, this is required on loans that have LTV’s that exceed 80%. The cost of the mortgage insurance is passed on to the borrower as an added expense to their monthly payment, but some banks allow what is called lender paid insurance, where the interest rate is higher in exchange for the lender paying the mortgage insurance. All government loans such an FHA and VA require mortgage insurance, regardless of the LTV.