Going through the purchase of your first property can be a bit intimidating. Yes, you can read books
Mortgage Ti for First Time Home Buyers
You have decided to pursue the American Dream of homeownership. First, congratulatio ! As you may have heard or read somewhere, you need to find the home of your dreams and then a ly for a mortgage to pay for the thing. This advice is a olutely and fundamentally wrong! In reality, you should pursue the proce in the exact o osite order.
Lets a ume you find that dream home or at least a starter home you are comfortable with. Most first timers immediately get that glazed look in their eyes where they start visualizing the placement of their furniture. Next thing you know, they have made an offer on the property. If the offer is accepted, they are ecstatic until the suddenly realize they have 30 days or so to get a mortgage lined up. They then race off to a lender and pray it all comes together in time. Taking this a roach is extremely stre ful and you should avoid it if po ible.
One of the simplest, yet most effective, mortgage ti is to focus on timing. In this case, I am referring to the timing of the a lication for your mortgage loan. Simply put, you want to a ly before you ever go house hunting. This proce is known as getting pre-a roved for a loan and it will make your life so much easier.
The advantages of getting pre-a roved for home loa are many. First, you are under no deadline related to the purchase of a home. If there is a problem, you can deal with it in a calm, mature ma er. Second, you know exactly what you can afford when you go house hunting because the bank will have already told you. Third, you are going to be far more attractive to sellers because you already have your financing lined up. This makes them more comfortable because there is one thing le for them to worry about. You can also use this to your advantage by negotiating a better deal with them.
If this is your first time buying a property, you can make life a lot simpler for yourself by getting pre-qualified by a mortgage lender. Once you know what you qualify for, you can get out there and shop till you drop for your dream home.