The Real Estate Browser Volume 8, Issue 9 | Page 14

14 — Say you saw it in The Real Estate Browser of Lynchburg — Volume 8 Number 9
www.LynchburgRealEstateBrowser.com
Why Should You Get Pre-Approved BEFORE
You Start Your Home Search?
By Sherry Brady, NMLS 217258, Branch Manager, Summit Mortgage Corporation
What’s the first thing you need to do once you
decide you want to think about buying a home?
Even if you don’t think you’re seriously looking
yet, you should meet with a lender to find out
what your options are. A lender can help you
determine such things as: how much you will
qualify for, what will your monthly payment be,
will you have to make a down payment, what are
the closing costs, and how long will the process
take...just to name a few. By talking to a lender,
you’ll know the answers to these questions and
will be able to shop for your home with confi-
dence, and less stress!
Talk to a lender before you even go to the first
“Open House”! Once you open that door and
start looking at homes, you never know at what
point your dream home is going to find you. You
could look for months, or it could be the very
first house you walk into that turns out to be “the
one”. Once that happens, you’re going to want
to put an offer in on the home as soon as possible
so that you don’t risk losing it. That’s when you
Realtor is going to ask for the letter saying you’re
pre-approved for a mortgage loan - if they haven’t
already asked. If you haven’t already talked to
a lender and gotten this done in advance, this is
where you could hit a speedbump. If you have
no credit issues, and have found a home in a price
range that fits your budget, you’ll be able to get
the letter you need quickly, but if you have any
credit challenges, or have overshot the budget,
you may not be able to qualify for that home
you’ve already fallen in love with.
Even if you already know that you have great
credit and the financial ability to buy a home,
working with a lender – especially a local lender
– can help you determine what you projected
new monthly payment will be and help you to be
certain it fits within your budget. Nine times out
of ten, monthly payments that you see online for
homes are inaccurate because they are based on
a set of criteria that may not represent you.
If
you see a payment quoted online, it’s most likely
only based on 80% of the purchase price (assum-
ing that you’ll make a 20% down payment), and
it probably doesn’t include escrows for real estate
taxes or homeowner’s insurance – even though
the majority of mortgage loans do have escrows.
Even if your mortgage doesn’t have that require-
ment, you still must pay those expenses, so you
need to plan for them in your budget.
Working
with a local lender can help you determine the
true monthly cost of your housing.
Having a pre-approval tells both your realtor
and the seller of the home you want to buy that
you are serious and you are capable: not only do
you want to buy, but you have the financial abil-
ity to buy. And by getting pre-approved, we can
begin your loan approval process early, before you
find the house, so that once you find the home
you love you’ll be able to get to closing quicker!
Call us today to get on the road to your new
home!