{"id":97,"date":"2026-10-11T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/?p=97"},"modified":"2026-10-11T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:00:00","slug":"homebuyers-lending-standards-are-still-tight-but-new-credit-scores-may-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/11\/homebuyers-lending-standards-are-still-tight-but-new-credit-scores-may-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Homebuyers: Lending Standards Are Still Tight, but New Credit Scores May Help"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"roomvu-news-container\">\n<p>It\u2019s no secret that today\u2019s homebuyers are facing some of the toughest lending standards we\u2019ve seen in decades. In fact, home sales are hovering near a 31-year low\u2014thanks to a combination of strict lending requirements, high mortgage rates, and climbing costs. There is a bit of hope on the horizon: new credit scoring models are now accounting for factors like rent and utility payments. While that\u2019s a step in the right direction, many low-income and minority buyers are still being left out, despite maintaining strong records of paying on time and keeping default rates low. As someone who has spent more than 20 years helping clients navigate both residential and commercial real estate across Middle Tennessee, I\u2019ve seen firsthand how challenging this environment can be. My goal is always to guide you through each step, offering clear advice and creative strategies\u2014no matter what the lending landscape looks like.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a class=\"roomvu-news-continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mortgageresearch.com\/articles\/mortgage-lending-standards-new-credit-scores\/\"><\/p>\n<div>Continue to full article<\/div>\n<p>\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s no secret that today\u2019s homebuyers are facing some of the toughest lending standards we\u2019ve seen in decades. In fact, home sales are hovering near a 31-year low\u2014thanks to a combination of strict lending requirements, high mortgage rates, and climbing costs. There is a bit of hope on the horizon: new credit scoring models are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97\/revisions\/100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dawngreenwoodrealestateagent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}