Two real estate agents, a lender and a couple who closed on their first home last month offer tips on what to consider before making what's normally the biggest purchase of one's life.
* Consider a first-time home buyer class. Dustin May, 23, and Heidi Myogeto, 22, found a class through the Minnesota Home Ownership Center's Home Stretch program. The class covered topics such as affording a house, shopping for a loan and repairing a credit score.
* Save your documents. Keep your most recent pay stub, W-2, bank and retirement account statements for the loan-approval process. The mortgage originator will pull your credit report to provide a snapshot of your outstanding debts. Be wary if a lender offers you a loan without checking these out.
It wouldn't hurt to check your credit report for free at www.annualcreditreport.com before you start the loan process to make sure there aren't mistakes that could hurt your chances of qualifying.
It's standard to be pre-approved for a loan before starting the home-search process. Just because you are pre-approved by one lender doesn't mean you must get a mortgage through that company.
* Play house. As soon as May and Myogeto decided to look for a house, they began banking $2,000 a month into a savings account. That gave them a taste of how their spending would change once they were homeowners. "I haven't seen the inside of a bar since New Year's," said Myogeto, who said they've curbed going out to eat.
* Don't buy too much house. Dan Hughes, a loan officer at Summit Mortgage Corp. in Plymouth, Minn., said borrowers can qualify for a home loan that would take up more than half their pay. That usually translates to "much bigger payments than
No comments:
Post a Comment