It is NOT getting any better out there. Lenders are changing guidelines at whim, re verifying till they find a "gotcha", and making closing packages ever more difficult to close. They are adding new lame and unneeded disclosures and making demands of title companies and signing agents that go beyond reasonable!
When I read how the modification program had only closed 13% of the qualified applicants, I had to laugh. It has to be much lower from my observations. I have interviewed 15 Bank Of America borrowers who have gone through the process. All of them said the same thing; They kept getting collection calls and certified letters demanding payment, fees and back charges as if they were not even enrolled in the program. Everyone I talked to said that they made the payments and did what they were told in the initial phone call for enrolling in the program. But apparently B of A has no clue what it is doing and has made the program a joke with it's incompetence. Add that to the stupidity of B of A underwriting and you have what was arguably the best lender in the country (Countrywide), being trashed with by the most inept, clueless bank in the industry.
Like I have said before...go back to the underwriting we had 7 years ago and we can get out of this slump much faster. Tightening of guidelines, raising credit scores, pushing down appraisals and gutless underwriters are killing the real estate market and the entire economy!