Purchasing a home is likely the largest event in a person’s life. My job is to help people achieve security, comfort and peace of mind. Whether I am helping you acquire your first home, move to a new state, or assist an investor in building their portfolio, my job is to assist you through one of the most important decisions you will ever make, buying a home. I will be with you every step of the process. #neverbuyalone
Requirements for qualifying for a purchase
Home purchase requirements vary depending on the lender you are planning work through. Here are some very loose requirements for purchase:
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- Credit Score of 640 (some can go as low as 620)
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- Employed for two years (usually only requires the same industry–if you have recently changed jobs)
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- Down payment (ranges from 0%-20%)
Home buying calculator – how do they figure?
The best thing to do first is to determine how much home you can comfortably afford. This may seem straight forward, but there are many factors that go into determining this magic number. Affordability is determined by debt to income ratio. Lenders take what you are paying per month (non-household items) and divide by income. This ratio requirement varies on loan type, but is usually 40-50 percent. The calculator then works backward, using the current interest rate, and determine the purchase price of the house.
To determine your current home purchase price, click HERE.
Where can I get this great home loan?
There are different ways to obtain a home loan. There are two basic ways to obtain a loan, banks (lenders) and brokers. If you have stellar credit (typically 720 and up), working with a local bank could save you some cash. There usually aren’t additional fees associated with banks and I have some great connections at these locations that could actually be paying some closing costs as incentive to purchase with them. Credit Unions are usually very affordable when it comes to origination fees, and their rates are usually competitive.
Why then go with a broker? The process for approval of a mortgage involves going through an initial preapproval, followed closely by sending the file to the dreaded “underwriting”. This is where loans go to die. All joking aside, if you are working with a loan officer that doesn’t really have a good pulse on the underwriting department, they could misinform you of actual approval. If this happens, sometimes a broker can redirect that file to another lender and get your mortgage handled. So, brokers have many lenders at their disposal, as you may conclude, this does tend to come with a price tag attached.
Home partners for lending can make or break your deal. If your lender misses the mark, you could be losing your earnest money. I have excellent partners that would fall under either one of these groups. My criteria for recommending a lender is super-human. Basically, they can’t make errors. It’s my expectation that my clients are their only clients. If you are looking for a lender, please email, text, or call. I will get you over to someone that can help.
Home buying programs
The is a website for determining programs in Oregon. This includes special financing for median income households. Click HERE to input your information to get programs that you and your family qualify.
Some Helpful links
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- Credit Score – How do they get this?
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- Mortgages – Lenders vs Brokers what’s the difference?
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- Loan Types – FHA, Conventional, USDA, VA compare and contrast
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- Oregon Savings Account – Tax benifits
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- Down Payment Savings – Easy way to set it and forget it, and win big
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- Land Purchase – How do these work?
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- Rehab Loans – What are the qualifications, not every loan officer does them
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- USDA home Purchase – 100% loan programs–the catch?
