|
STOPP BEING STOPPED
DECIDE TO NOT BE STOPPED FROM BUYING A HOME
By Broker: Forest Tardibuono
This Article is addressed to all those who long to buy a home but have not done anything about it.
Let’s be clear on this question of “Buy a home – don’t buy a home?”
It’s obviously not the rates. 30 year fixed rate loans are at the lowest – ever! Did everyone see that headline in every news forum? Lowest ever!
It’s obviously not real estate prices, because the majority of the statistics show they have hit bottom and are projected to rise based on those statistics.
It’s obviously not the fact that there are major tax advantages to owning a home, because those have been preached for years.
So what is stopping you? Think about it for a minute, what is really stopping you?
Whatever you came up with – get over it ! OK that’s rather abrupt but look at the compelling facts above that demonstrate why you should get over whatever it is that has stopped you.
Did you decide to stop being stopped?
Good. So the starting point for becoming a home owner is being pre-approved for a home loan. This is the starting point. You do not want to shop for the home first. That is putting the cart before the horse. Most sellers in this current market will only look at offers from Buyers that have been pre-approved for the home loan.
You have a couple of ways you can go here: If you have a real estate agent already, have them set this up with their favorite lender, preferably a mortgage broker, since you probably have no idea what type of loan you may qualify for. If you don’t have a real estate agent, you could interview a few and decide on one and then have them steer you to their favorite lender. You could also go direct to a local mortgage broker or your favorite bank. You could look in the Yellow Pages (do people still do that?) or go on-line and search mortgage broker and the city you live in.
It does not cost anything to find out what you can buy based on your credit, income and down payment.
Touching on that briefly, you can be a Buyer whether you have perfect credit, good credit or “bad” credit. You can also be a Buyer if you have from easily verifiable income to difficult to prove income. You can be a Buyer with as little as 1/2 % down!
Regularly published are the 30 year fixed rates offered by FNMA, FHLMC, FHA, and VA as well as PERS and loans made by the California Housing Finance Agency. These are deemed “conforming” loans. They are offered through local Brokers and banks. You need good to perfect credit for these as well as verifiable income. You also need to be buying a home that is in pretty good shape. No fixer-uppers.
Finally, any time one of the above traditional lenders cannot approve your loan you need the services of a hard money lender. These are Brokers and companies that offer these non-traditional, that is non-conforming - programs. Some of the reasons conforming lenders say “no” are low FICO scores, a recent bankruptcy, inability to verify income, no tax returns, no bank statements, high debt to income ratios, odd or non-conforming types of properties such as mixed use, multiple units, apartments, land, etc. Hard money generally requires just 2 things: a good down payment and ability to repay the loan.
You’ve already decided to stop being stopped. What are you waiting for?
Don’t miss out! Now is the time to buy.
|
