What's the number one hurdle for renters making the leap to homeownership? That pesky down payment. Even with an FHA loan that only requires a minimum of 3.5% down, the thought of setting aside several thousand dollars is daunting (and for some, darn near impossible).
A survey from Apartment List highlights the struggle for millennial renters, with 62% citing a lack of down payment savings as their reason for delaying homeownership. 48% have zero down payment savings, and just 11% have saved $10,000 or more.
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Why is there so much paperwork mandated by the lenders for a mortgage loan application when buying a home today? It seems that they need to know everything about you and requires three separate sources to validate each and every entry on the application form.
Many buyers are being told by friends and family that the process was a hundred times easier when they bought their home ten to twenty years ago.
There are two very good reasons that the loan process is much more onerous on today’s buyer than perhaps any time in history.
1. The government has set new guidelines that now demand that the bank proves beyond any doubt that you are indeed capable of paying the mortgage.
During the run-up to the housing crisis, many people ‘qualified’ for mortgages that they could never pay back. This led to millions of families losing their home. The government wants to make sure this...
It’s almost time for school to start up again. Are you in a great school district?
Find out your schools’ scores here: https://bit.ly/2sxHyDX
If you have school-age children, it’s important to be sure that you are in a highly rated school district before school starts. Here’s why:
- If you move before school starts, your child will not have to deal with the stress of moving schools, making new friends, meeting new teachers, etc.
- Moving to a higher-ranking school district opens the door for a better education for your child. You are not only investing in a home, you’re investing in their future.
- Once your child is no longer in school and it is time to sell, you will have an excellent selling point for your home, because everyone wants the best for their kids.
If you are looking to move for access to better schools, here...
There’s no more important time to work on your credit score than when you’re about to apply for a mortgage. Improving your credit can save you a ton of money—we’re talking about thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. Here are the actions you can take that will have a notable impact on your score.
Pay down your credit card balances Credit utilization is one of the biggest factors in determining your credit score. Your credit utilization should at least be less than 30 percent of your limit, and it’s even better if you can get it below 15 percent. This rule applies to both individual cards and your overall credit limit.
It may even be worthwhile to use some of the cash funds you were planning to use for a down payment to pay off credit card balances.
Do no harm While you certainly want to improve your score if possible, at the very least you’ll want to keep it steady. Avoid opening new...
As the events of the last few years in the real estate industry show, people forget about the tremendous financial responsibility of purchasing a home at their peril. Here are a few tips for dealing with the dollar signs so that you can take down that “for sale” sign on your new home.
Get pre-approved. Sub-primes may be history, but you’ll probably still be shown homes you can’t actually afford. By getting pre-approved as a buyer, you can save yourself the grief of looking at houses you can't afford. You can also put yourself in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house. Unlike pre-qualification, which is based on a cursory review of your finances, pre-approval from a lender is based on your actual...
When house hunting, this question is worth considering—and the answer isn't as simple as you might think. The number of floors in a home affects not just the way it looks, but also how easy it is to navigate and maintain, how much you'll pay for heating and cooling, and much more.
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Looking to buy a home? Here are five essential tips for making the process as smooth as possible.
Get your finances in order.
Start by getting a full picture of your credit. Obtain copies of your credit report. Make sure the facts are correct, and fix any problems you find. Next, find a suitable lender and get pre-approved for a loan. This will put you in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house.
Find a house you can afford.
As with engagement rings, there’s a general rule of thumb when it comes to buying a home: two-and-a-half times your annual salary. There are also a number of tools and calculators online that can help you understand how your income, debt, and expenses affect what you can afford. Don’t forget, too, that there are lots of considerations beyond the sticker price, including property taxes, energy costs, etc.
Hire a professional.
While the Internet...
Making Friends When you Move
You’ve made it! You’ve successfully moved to a new city or town, and after tackling the most urgent post-move tasks, now you begin to wonder how to make friends in a new city.
You’re probably well aware of the common advice on how to make new friends in a new city: find the courage in you to say YES to new adventures and think twice before turning down invitations to meet new people, even if those invitations include doing something outside your comfort zone – that is, something you wouldn’t normally do.
Of course, following that advice is much easier said than done. In reality, making friends in a new city can sometimes be...
There has been some discussion recently on home prices in relation to mortgage rates. Some believe if there is a rapid rise of mortgage rates, home prices should decrease. Logically it makes the most sense for the price of the house to drop when interest rates are rising, but this is not always the case.
This theory of home prices decreasing is typically discussed by future home buyers. As a buyer you would like to think if you are paying higher rates on your mortgage, you should be able to see a decrease in cost somewhere else. Unfortunately, these rates are rising because the economy is in better shape. As the economy succeeds, incomes rise, rates go up, as well as the price of the home.
A recent study by the John Burns Real Estate Consulting found mortgage...
