Mortgage Advice

            Do You Have $1000
          To Simply Throw Away?

I know this may sound like a very silly question but that is exactly what happens every day to unsuspecting buyers who do not get pre-approved for a loan BEFORE they go house hunting.

Let me explain with a typical scenario…

You have read online that we are in a perfect buyer’s real estate market. Mortgage rates are at all time lows, housing prices are depressed because of the financial crises and there are a lot of houses for sale. You decide it is time to buy your dream home.  So you call Aunt Mildred, who is a  realtor and you start looking for a home.

After many, many hours of  on-line searches, 3 or 4 weekends of going to open houses, and several meetings with Aunt Mildred where you feel she is getting a little bit frustrated with your indecisiveness,  you find the perfect bank owned home. Aunt Mildred says it is a steal and you should make an offer, maybe because she is tired.  So, you are ready to make your first real estate offer.

Because it is bank owned the paperwork is staggering and it goes to some place across the country for approval. It turns out you didn’t fill it out correctly, so you make the corrections and resubmit.

Then you apply for your loan. The lender requests a credit card for the appraisal. It is also a very good idea to have your home inspected. This is another fee that you will be required to pay up front when the service is rendered.

So, approximately 7 to 10 days after your contract was
accepted by the seller you will have spent $1000.00 or more.

Whether Your Loan Is Approved Or Denied These Funds Are
Not Refunded!

And then 2-3 weeks later, you get the fateful email that says, regrettably because you did not have a  preapproval from a mortgage company attached to your offer, another contract has been accepted instead of yours. You are devastated! Your dream home gone. You blame Aunt Mildred, but she has gone back into retirement. Your dreams are dashed.  Your checkbook has taken a hit and your dream house is gone. Here’s what you should have done.

You  should have met with a lender long before you started looking. We talk to people everyday in the scenario above, who are so disappointed.  It is never too early to make sure you can get a loan. Preapprovals are usually free. However, be sure you go to a mortgage person that knows what the are doing. There is nothing more embarrassing than to think you are preapproved and find out too late that  you are not!  

In this pre-approval meeting we can establish what your comfort level is for monthly payments as well as the amount of funds you can comfortably use for the transaction and we can then use these figures to recommend the
appropriate mortgage program. We will pull your credit report and analyze it to make sure you are eligible for a mortgage.

Sellers require preapproval letters. Aunt Mildred should have known that. Sellers won’t entertain offers without them, particularly bank owned and short sale homes.

So, don’t make the $1000 mistake. The first step when buying a home is to get  preapproved.

If you would like to be preapproved for a mortgage call 614-610-4245 or click here to fill out a mortgage application.