Aloha Everyone,

In today's Hawaii Homes section in the Honolulu Advertiser, there is a great article for steps a buyer should be taking prior to purchasing a home.  I wanted to share this because as a Loan Officer, I have had numerous instances where a buyer would come to me trying to qualify for a loan for an Open House they saw over the weekend, when really they should have came to me first to see what they can qualify for and find out what they can actually afford before shopping for a home!  Doing so could have saved the buyer AND the Realtor's time from looking at houses that were out of their price range.  Even though they may have good income, we still need to take into account thier current expeneses and credit history. 

Make sure you/your client is pre-qualified by a diligent Loan Officer.  You don't want to fall out of escrow because you weren't properly qualified from the beginning.

I hope the following is helpful...

Five simple steps to home ownership http://www.print2webcorp.com/news/Honolulu/Hawaiishomes/20070415/p01.asp

Pete Castillejos 

pete.castillejos@charterfunding.com