Lately I have been hearing from producers, some of whom are upset about the current lending environment, some not. But for a slightly different view of things, here is what one very experienced and knowledgeable underwriter wrote to me: "It used to be that we could 'underwrite' a loan and use common sense to navigate individual circumstances and actually make a decision that a loan was a good credit risk.  Then DU and LP came along and gave us the laundry list that had to be followed.  We were still able to manually underwrite loans for those transactions that did not fit the box.  Then the bottom fell out of the business and everyone got scared and new rules came out. Investors and Wall Street were to blame for allowing individuals who were not telling the truth to buy homes. Today investors are pre-underwriting loans prior to purchase and we have to 'march to their tune' including getting pieces of paper that seem ridiculous, but since we need the investor to purchase the loan so we obtain them anyway.  Only the most qualified borrowers with all their ducks in a row get loans these days.

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