First Step To Buying A Home Is Getting Pre Approved. In many markets across the country, the number of buyers searching for their dream homes greatly outnumbers the number of homes for sale. This has led to a competitive marketplace where buyers often need to stand out. One way to show you are serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search.
Even if you are in a market that is not as competitive, knowing your budget will give you the confidence of knowing if your dream home is within your reach.
Freddie Mac lays out the advantages of pre-approval in the ‘My Home’ section of their website:
“It’s highly recommended that you work with your lender to get pre-approved before you begin house hunting. Pre-approval will tell you how much home you can afford and can help you move faster, and with greater confidence, in competitive markets.”
First Step To Buying A Home Is Getting Pre Approved
One of the many advantages of working with a local real estate professional is that many have relationships with lenders who will be able to help you with this process. Once you have selected a lender, you will need to fill out their loan application and provide them with important information regarding “your credit, debt, work history, down payment and residential history.”
Freddie Mac describes the ‘4 Cs’ that help determine the amount you will be qualified to borrow:
- Capacity: Your current and future ability to make your payments
- Capital or cash reserves: The money, savings, and investments you have that can be sold quickly for cash
- Collateral: The home, or type of home, that you would like to purchase
- Credit: Your history of paying bills and other debts on time
Getting pre-approved is one of many steps that will show home sellers that you are serious about buying, and it often helps speed up the process once your offer has been accepted.
Bottom Line
Many potential home buyers overestimate the down payment and credit scores needed to qualify for a mortgage today. If you are ready and willing to buy, you may be pleasantly surprised at your ability to do so as well.
Call Us Now To Sell Your Home…
Office: 909.985.9392 or Text Us: 714.657.6634
31% Of Foreclosures In March Strategic Defaults….Strategic Short Sale Defaults on the Rise
This morning executives at Bank of America[BAC 15.81 0.37 (+2.4%) ] rolled out their new "Principal Reduction Enhancement" program, which is an earned principal forgiveness plan for borrowers behind on their mortgages and whose loans are at least 20 percent...
Home Buyer Tax Incentive Lost To Many Due To Lengthy Short Sales And Lenders Timelines!
By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Report Everybody take a nice long look at today'sPending Home Sales Index from the National Association of Realtors, because it's just about the last positive picture we're going to see for a while. Yes, the index rose even more than...
FREDDIE HAFA: Freddie Mac Rolls Out HAFA Initiatives For Homeowners Facing Foreclosure
BREAKING NEWS! FREDDIE MAC is stepping up with the FREDDIE HAFA like program...on the footsteps of It's "sister" Fannie Mae who released it's guidelines last night. The highlights: Sellers get $3,000.00 for Moving Expenses Servicers get $2,200.00 for "playing along"...
Strategic Short Sale Defaults…Homeowner's Saving Money VS Paying Mortgage
Shadow Inventory of Homes to Take Nearly 3 Years to Clear: Standard & Poor's
The “shadow inventory” of bank-repossessed properties, as well as distressed mortgages facing foreclosure, will take nearly three years to clear at the current sales rate, according to a report from the credit rating agencyStandard & Poor’s (S&P). The analysts...
Fannie Mae Program Turns Homeowners into Renters….Slowing Down Foreclosure,Shadow Inventory?
Miguel Gutierrez said the goal of Fannie Mae is to minimize family displacement for borrowers that participate in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure program, launched early in November 2009, while managing it in a way so as to not put any undue pressure on Fannie’s...
FANNIE HAFA: Fannie Mae New HAFA "Like" Program…Short Sales Accepted
After months of waiting. Fannie Mae announced today their own version of the HAFA program that was intituted April 5, 2010. When: August 1, 2010 Who: All conventional loans held in Fannie Mae's portfolio are eligible Servicers get $2,200 for Short Sales and $1,200...
Over 12% Of All U.S. Home Mortgages Are Delinquent…Short Sale May Avoid Foreclosures
Home Owners Choosing Their Own "Loan Modification" Strategic Default Short Sale…?
An article just hit the press today about a family that stopped paying their mortgage last summer when they could not get a loan modification. I'm still trying to grasp what's really going on here in our Wonderful Land of The FREE.... Ironic that our weekend put us...
Sex and the City 2: Get the Look at Home
Sex and the City 2: Get the Look at Home. Whether you love them or hate them, there is one thing you simply can't deny about the cast of Sex and the City 2: They've got style. From their heads to their toes, from their table lamps to their rugs. But let's be serious--...
Cyclist Christian Vande Velde Pays $775K For Home In Lemont IL….
Check out Bob’s story that ran in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune in which Bob broke the story of cyclist Christian Vande Velde paying $775,000 for a five-bedroom house on 4.75 acres in Lemont, Ill., a southwest suburb of Chicago. Bob also notes that a town home owned by...
Approximately 6 Million Mortgages Currently Delinquent-Mortgage Mediation A Possible Solution?
By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter An article today in USA Today suggests thatmore troubled borrowers are turning to mediation in an attempt to avoid foreclosure. Mediation is when the borrower and the lender sit down with a court-ordered mediator, a third...
REO’s sold during April plunged
By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter Last year, when the rest of the nation's housing was still reeling from recession, California started to show signs of life. Sales increased and prices stabilized, despite the fact that it was one of the hardest hit states...
Bank Of America, Citigroup Incorrectly Hid Billions In Repo Debt
If you follow the banking and housing market, there has always been a 2+2=5 for us...something just didn't add up. How do the largest banks in the US produce enormous gains when all around is collapsing...their coffers of homes are growing in essence becoming the...
Active Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Cost Gaurd & Reserves…Soldiers & Sailors Act Protects against Foreclosure
God Bless America! The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940 (SSCRA) was updated and amended in 2003 by President Bush. This Act was created to protect our Fellows in Arms during their "Active Service". Many of our soldiers we're non-active in the National...