BUYING A NEW
HOME
is a process that begins with a look at your financial resources and
your credit and bill payment reliability. You have to ask yourself
if you're ready to buy a home, and applying for a mortgage loan can
be a time-consuming and complicated task.
First, ask yourself
a few question, review your financial history which mortgage lenders
will use to determine if you qualify for a loan.
Here's a quick
list of what you should look for and prepare:
Job Stability
- Mortgage lenders look to your employment history to determine if
you can count with the required, regular income to make payments for
your mortgage and for other debts. You do not have to hold the same
job to count as steady employment.
If you can prove you have a steady source of income
then you have shown the lender that you are a reliable candidate
for a loan.
Bill and Credit Card Payments
- Payment reliability helps the lender predict your future payment
behavior. If you've paid your bills on time a lender can assume that
you will do likewise with your loan payments. Credit History - If
you have not established credit history, you can present, instead,
records of utilities bills or other such regular expenses through
which you can prove that you can make your payments regularly.
Lenders will acquire a credit report. Sometimes
a credit report may not accurately reflect your true credit history
or it may not show past errors or problems that have since been
resolved, so be sure you can account for them.
If your credit report is correct and you still
show some problems, you may not be ready to buy a home; instead,
work on bettering your credit history and any other financial problems
that may arise.
You can get your own credit report sometimes free
and sometimes for a small charge through any local credit reporting
agency. Just look in your yellow pages or you can request a free
report online at
www.consumerinfo.com
Downpayment Money
- You should have enough money saved for a downpayment and closing
costs. The downpayment depends on the home's price, so ask a lender
or a real estate agent to determine the amount. It is typically about
5 percent of the price. The lender will want proof of this fund, so
place it in advance in a savings account. The longer you have kept
funds in that account the better you will look to the lender.
Home Mortgage Qualifying Worksheet
Monthly Gross Income
Borrower's annual income
CO-borrower's annual income
Total gross annual income
Mortgage Amount
Home purchase price
Down payment
Monthly Housing Cost
Monthly payment (P&I) on 30-year loan
Condo or homeowner's fee (if applicable)
Other Monthly Debt Payments
Car payment
Credit card(s) payments
Student loan
Other
Your results appear below.
Allowable monthly Housing Cost
$
Total Monthly Housing Cost
$
Allowable Total Monthly Debt
$
Total Monthly Cost
$
Do you qualify?
The criteria for qualifying is as follows:
if your Monthly Housing Cost is not more than your Allowable Monthly
Housing Cost, and your Total Monthly Cost is not more than your Allowable
Monthly Debt, then you may qualify for a mortgage.
Don't worry if you have problems in one area; many
times, some strong areas can compensate for a weak one. For a more
thorough evaluation contact a local loan lender or get in touch with
us.
Américas Real Estate has the trained personnel
to help you with your mortgage, please feel free to contact
us for more help.
Here's a list of other useful sites and links on mortgages
and homes.
Fannie
Mae Foundation - Americas largest supplier of conventional home
mortgages funds.HomePath - More information
on buying a home of your own.
