FAMILY & HOME
There’s a lot of good advice (and some not so good advice) out there about what
you should do before you apply for a mortgage. And sure, we appreciate you doing
your homework and your legwork before you sit down with a licensed loan officer.
But here’s the downside of all that advice — it makes it sound like not getting
pre-approved would be the modern day version of the village stocks. According
to a national survey of prospective home buyers performed in early 2014, more
than half of the respondents reported that they hadn’t even applied for a mortgage
because they were afraid they wouldn’t qualify.
The reality is that being rejected isn’t the end of the world, or even the end of
your dream. We are often able to finance people who have been turned down
elsewhere. Plus, as cited in that same report, approval rates improved slightly in
2014 and as of second quarter 2015 the mortgage requirements haven’t gotten
tighter in more than a year. So for many of those fearful home buyers, what’s
standing between them and their next home is just old news.
“They” say that knowledge is power — we didn’t make that up, but we certainly
agree. Which means that the best time to talk to your loan officer is when you’re
uncertain if you’re going to qualify for the house you want. Once you have the
knowledge of what you need to change, you have the power to make those
changes. And no article on the internet, no matter how qualified the author, can
look at your personal situation and tell you what is going to be true for you.
There are no hard and fast rules for what you need to be approved. You may not
need as much money down as you think, your credit score may not be as low as
you fear, and managing your credit to maximize your changes doesn’t mean you
need to pay everything off. Some debts have more impact than others. And that’s
not even taking into account the special finance options that you might qualify for
- like FHA (Federal Housing Administration) financing.
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Tracy Ellis, of The Tracy Ellis Team, is one of St. Louis’ premier
luxury real estate professionals and the host of her radio and
television shows on the topic. Tracy is also the publisher of her
own real estate magazine, “Tracy Ellis, A Guide to Luxury Real
Estate.” For more information on the Tracy Ellis Team, visit www.
tracyellis.com. To speak to a team member, call (636) 299-3702.
SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY