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Feeling overwhelmed?
Webster Team stress relief is almost always FREE to buyers!!
Now You Can - - Tell someone what you are looking for
- Have them search for properties for you & drive you to them (Saves you gas!)
- Learn about the quality of the homes you are looking at. This is what Makes Us Different from other Realtors.
- Let someone else deal with the sellers and negotiations
- Let someone else handle all the annoying little details after the contract like inspections, title, etc.
Ahhh... feels better already... Let's chat about what you're looking for (no worries, we're pretty easy to get along with)...
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Home  Buy A House Deciding How Much House You Can Afford
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Deciding How Much House You Can Afford |
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Before you start house hunting, you need to determine how much house you can afford, which will entail getting either prequalified or preapproved for a home loan. A real estate agent can help you find a mortgage broker to begin the process. While getting preapproved is a more in-depth process, a preapproval letter lets both real estate agents and sellers know that you're a serious shopper who means business.
What do I do to get prequalified? A prequalification can be done online or over the phone and does not require your submitting financial documents. You will be asked to provide basic information about your finances — for instance, your household income versus your debt load. With this information, the lender will estimate what your maximum loan amount could be if you were to apply.
What about getting preapproved? A preapproval is more involved and a real estate agent can help you prepare your documentation. The lender will perform an extensive review of your finances, requiring pay stubs, tax records, credit accounts, bank statements and more. This figure will not only be a more reliable estimate of what you can afford, but your preapproval also indicates that a lender is willing to do business with you, pending the purchase price, market appraisal and the underwriting process.
What should I ask when shopping for a lender? Your real estate agent should have a mortgage broker they are willing to put you in contact with – this lender will be someone they have done business with in the past, and feel comfortable recommending. However, if you decide to do a little comparison shopping and look for a lender on your own, here are a few important questions to ask.
- What loan programs do you offer and which one do you think is best for me?
- How long will the loan approval process take?
- What line items of the loan agreement – if any – are negotiable?
- What is your policy for locking in interest rates, and will you honor a lower rate if it declines during the lock-in period?
- Are there fees for prepaying on my loan?
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"Webster Team made our first home buying experience as painless as
possible. Bob did more than we asked of him. We told him what we wanted
and he stuck to it. Even sticking to the price range we outlined. He
cared more about what we could afford than his commissions. We looked
at literally hundreds of houses on both sides of the state line. His
experience in home repair is invaluable to your search. There were
houses that looked fine to us, but he could tell had problems. The
house we ended up buying needed foundation repair that had scared a lot
of people off. But Bob knew it looked worse than it was and could be
fixed easily. We ended up with an amazing deal on a great house. Since
then we have used their tools. That's right it's no lie. They will let
you use their own personal tools on your home repairs. Who does that?
If you are looking to buy or sell your house you must use Webster Team."
-- Paul & Kristin Van Sickle
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