Mortgage Design Inc

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Step 1: Getting Started The first step to owning your own home is to ask yourself, “Am I ready to be a homeowner? ” If you plan to live in the same place for more than two or three years, buying a house is a great way to invest in your family ’s future. You need to have a steady job so that you can make your house payments without sacrificing the things that are truly important to you. You also need to be able to save a little money each month because when you own your own house you will have to pay for repairs and upkeep from time to time. The best way to start this process is to meet with a housing counselor or take a homebuyer education class. These services are free, ask us and we will help direct you to those service providers. We also may be able to answer most of your questions ourselves based on our years of experience. Step 2: Finding the Right Lender Many people only talk to one lender when buying a house, but they may go to several stores to find the best price on a computer or a pair of shoes. You can decide what the best loan is for your particular situation if you compare several different lenders (there are many different kinds of loans, and different lenders will have different fees and interest rates.) When you meet with a lender, they will “pre qualify ” you for a loan. They will ask you how much money you have, how much money you make, and how much money you owe for things like credit card and car payments. They will look at your credit history to find out if you have any open collections, and see if you usually make your payments on time. Based on this information, they will tell you how much money they will lend you. This does NOT mean it is a good idea to borrow the maximum amount unless you are sure you can make the monthly payments, and that the payments will not go up on you. Unfortunately, there are many lenders out there who will take advantage of people who are buying their first house, so be aware and ask your co-workers, family or friends for a lender referral first. That way you will save a lot of time and effort, as well as find someone you can trust. Step 3: Working with a Realtor to Find Your New Home After you and your lender decide how much money you want to borrow, you can begin looking for a house that falls in your price range. Of course, you could try to find a house on your own, but real estate agents specialize in finding just the right house for you, and as the buyer, they work for you at no cost to you (the person selling you the house has to pay their commission.) Your realtor also acts as your advocate to help you negotiate a price with the seller. To have a realtor work for you, you need to sign an agreement saying that they will be your realtor for a specific amount of time (for 2 months, for example.) You and your realtor need to work well together, so if setting up the agreement is difficult, it is a good sign that you need to find a new realtor. If you don ’t know any realtors, your lender will know several that have helped out their clients in the past.

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