Before you fall in love….
House hunting begins at home—with planning. The first step toward buying a house is to sit down. Before you grab the road maps and hit the streets, you need to do a little planning. We call it "pre-qualifying". Simply, it's determining how much house you can afford to buy. Knowing your affordable price range will bring your house-hunting into focus. I strongly recommend that you speak with a lender to learn about the different financing options available to you. There is nothing more frustrating than looking for a home, finding the perfect home, and then discovering that it is out of your price range.
There is no cost in getting pre-qualified or pre-approved, and will prove valuable in your home search. Not only will you know how much home you can afford, you will have an idea of the monthly payments, the amount necessary for down payment, and it will allow me to negotiate on your new home. Getting pre-qualified can easily be done over the phone. The lender will need to know your income, how long you have been employed, funds you have available, and will review your credit. The lender will find the loan that fits you and your needs, and issue a "Pre-Approval Letter". After obtaining the pre-approval letter we can begin looking for your new home with the confidence you deserve.
In the unfortunate event that the lender is not able to pre-qualify you at this time, don’t give up on the dream of home ownership. I work closely with my preferred lender, and we work together to help my clients improve their credit situations to achieve their dreams of owning a home. Sometimes the credit reports are incorrect, or have negative information being reported without the client’s knowledge. It could be as simple as moving some debt around between creditors, allowing a little more time for credit scores to improve, or opening another line of credit.
