5 Tips For Buying A Home | I Want A Great Home Loan

We see a bunch of clients come in that could have saved themselves some headaches if they would’ve followed these 5 tips for buying a home.

PLAN on when you’ll buy a home.
1. Plan, plan, plan. If you know that your lease is ending in 7 months and you’re really fed up with how you’re paying for the landlord’s mortgage, look into buying a home. We know that sometimes it may be a spur of the moment thing but planning ahead can make a world of difference.
Do NOT purchase a new vehicle. (If you can help it)
1. You may be just graduating college or getting that well deserved promotion at work and be tempted to treat yourself to that shiny new vehicle. If at all possible, fight that urge! When we are calculating your debt-to-income ratio, that car payment can possibly take away the purchasing power that you wished you had. Instead of a $150,000 house, you’re now looking at an $80,000 home.
Do NOT change jobs or how you’re paid.
1. The main reason we try to not have people change jobs is not because of the history but the possibility of the way that you were and are paid now. If you were salaried 6 months ago and now you are paid a smaller salary but with commissions, there is a good possibility we won’t be able to count those commissions since you haven’t received them for two years. So if a job opportunity arises or HR is possibly promoting you to a new pay system, weigh the costs of maybe not being able to buy a home.
Do NOT deposit cash or large untraceable deposits.
1. The old saying used to be “cash is king”. Some people still think that they can bring their mattress money or rainy day funds to closing and unfortunately that is not the case anymore. When we are going through the loan process and see a large deposit that isn’t an auto deposit from payroll, things can get a little dicey. Ever since the mortgage crisis in 2008 and 2009, the government makes us “source” funds like that. It’s their way of making sure that there isn’t possible money laundering or fraud happening. If you sell a vehicle or an item for cash, please document it as clearly as possible.
Listen to your loan officer
1. This is an extremely easy one but you’d be surprised how many times people don’t follow this. An analogy that Don tells his clients is to think of buying a home like a maze. This is especially true with all the regulations and rules they have put in place since the mortgage crisis. You, the borrower, are trying to get to the end of the maze and get into the home. We as loan officers have a better view point of the maze and can help guide you through it. If you don’t trust us and let us guide you, it can take a lot longer to get into the home or possibly do something that makes it to where you can’t get a home at all.

There a lot more tips and tricks that we can share about the loan process but those are the five main tips when buying a home to hopefully make things a little easier for you. If you have any questions or need help in securing a great home loan, please give us a call at (417) 844-5370 or fill out our contact form!