Hudson, WI - First time homebuyer tips

Looking to buy your first home in 2012? Well, you picked a great time to do so as house prices are low and so are interest rates! Here are some tips for you before buying a house:

1. Credit score - your credit score plays a vitale role in getting a mortgage. Know what your score is, what's on your credit report, etc. Anything over 740 is excellent, over 680 good, but you'll need a least a 640 score or better to obtain financing. I can pull a credit report for you and help you with this.
2. Know what you'll need to get pre-qualified - lenders will need income documents, pay stubs, bank statements to know where down payment monies are coming from. Have your last two year's W2, two most recent pay stubs, and most recent bank statement (all pages) with you to bring in. With those documents I can issue a CTL (Comittment to Lend) which is an actual underwriting approval with income/assets/credit signed off on. You'll know up to what amount you're actually APPROVED for. From there once you find a house, all I would need is the purchase agreement, appraisal, homeowner's insurance, and title insurance. I can explain this further.
3. Know what you can afford - see above under CTL.
4. Time is of the essense - once you sign the purchase agreement, we're on the clock. A delayed closing date could potentially kill a deal. Make sure you're sending in documents quickly when they are requested from the lender. Clearwater is very fast with our underwriting, so with us this shouldn't be an issue as long as we're getting documents in a timely matter.
5. When your loan is approved, do not have your credit pulled or take out any new debt during the loan process as this could kill the deal. All lenders will request a credit update before closing. If you took out a new loan that wasn't originally on your credit report, if the payment puts your debt ratios out of whack this could kill the deal and would be a hard lesson learned. If you're looking to buy a new car, take out a credit card, or get any new loans, wait until AFTER you close on your mortgage.
6. Gift funds for down payment monies - are you getting gift funds from your parents or a relative for the down payment? If so, consult with me first before getting the money and depositing it into your account. FHA loans allow the down payment to be 100% gift funds, however conventional loans have different guidelines. There is a right and wrong way to go about this, so consult with me on how to do this prior to receiving the gift funds so this piece isn't harder than it should be.
7. Be persistent - just because a bank or credit union rejected your loan doesn't mean I can't do it. Sometimes banks/credit unions have tighter/stricter guidlelines or possibly don't have access to all the programs I do. Just because they said no doesn't mean you can't get a loan.