Print edition: 
There's good news going forward for potential homebuyers: Mortgage rates should remain at or near historic lows in Wichita for the next three years.
Good news, with a substantial caveat, however: Bring 5 percent down with you and make sure your credit cards are paid off.
The days of the "no skin in the game" loan are over, as are the days of most lending to risky customers.
Dan Jones, regional lending manager for Capitol Federal in Wichita, outlined the mortgage lending market Friday morning during the annual Kansas Housing Markets Forecast, at the Wichita Marriott.
Potential homebuyers need to keep a few things in mind, Jones said:
* 5 percent down and a 680 credit score are required for most loans.
* The days of the no-money-down loan have dwindled to some Veterans Administration and rural development programs.
* Don't expect a 30-year loan. Many lenders want a 20-year loan as proof of the borrower's commitment to pay the home off.
* If you want to put less down, especially on a more expensive home, plan on bringing a 720 credit score to your lender plus evidence of a solid credit history.
* Your eventual house payment can't make up more than 31 percent of your income.
* Have evidence of credit stability, including four established credit lines that have been paid on time for at least a year.
Jones and Robert Denk, assistant vice president for forecasting and analysis at the National Association of Home Builders, painted a very optimistic future about short-term interest rates.
With economic growth sluggish in the face of the 2008 economic collapse and the Federal Reserve committed to keeping interest rates low, money will continue to be cheap through at least early 2014.
"And that's good news for the support of the housing market," said Denk, an economist. "Rates will still be relatively low by historical standards by the end of the period."
Locally, rates are forecast to rise slightly to 5.2 percent by the end of 2013, said Stan Longhofer, director of the Wichita State Center for Real Estate.
That's still below what Longhofer calls a normal mortgage rate for Wichita — 5.5 to 7.5 percent.
So Jones still believes that "buying a home is the American dream."
And there's market evidence that the dream still exists in Wichita. Steve Farmer, a mortgage banker with Bank of Oklahoma's new mortgage lending business in Wichita, said business is good, with about 75 percent going to homebuyers.
Jones said residential lenders are open for business.
"Money's almost free," he said. "We have to look at the opportunities we have in this market, and it's extraordinary."
