Mortgage lending is beginning to pick up steam in the Miami area, helping to drive the real estate market. While some borrowers may still have trouble getting a mortgage, loosening credit and a swing away from the tight regulation that followed the housing market crash of 2007 are already having an effect.

Borrower experiences may differ from firm to firm, however. Zach Mani, branch manager at Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, says his firm’s teams work with a range of credit levels and deliver loans directly from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. He recommends that borrowers start the process early, find a knowledgeable loan officer and make sure their financial footprint is in order.

“A lot of times, the perception of ‘loans are hard to get’ is based on poorly structured loans, clients working with lenders with credit overlays or lenders whose credit box is not wide enough to accommodate certain scenarios,” Mani said.

Recent changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are designed to ease some of down payment requirements, credit score limits and paperwork requirement that have kept some buyers out of the market. Both lenders are now authorized to offer loans with down payments of just 3 percent. The low down-payment mortgages from Fannie will be available only to people who are defined by the Federal Housing Finance Agency as first-time homebuyers, meaning they have not owned a home in the last three years.