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Homeowners?
So, MH and I did our taxes last night and had a major wake up call. We owe the IRS (BOO!!) because we're making too much money not to own a house and we don't really have any exemptions. Basically our accountant told us that we need to buy a house ASAP. Like now. And we need a contract before April 30, 2010 so we can take advantage of the government tax credit.
I am freaking out. I thought we would have until June to get all this sorted out, but I am realizing that we need to get pre-approved now if we expect to have a contract by April 30th and close before June!
So, my question is - do any of you have experience with getting pre-approved for a mortgage? What do I need to do? Do you have any recommendations for lenders? I am so, so lost. I have googled and researched and I think I know what we're getting into, but it really seems like such a huge process. Any help would be appreciated.
Re: Homeowners?
Hi! We started with our bank and got an initial pre-qualification, which is all you need to put an offer in on a house.The pre-qualification process was super easy and quick. We just provided basic info, and the bank was able to check out our bank accounts. I don't remember needing to provide any other documentation at that point. I think it was that same day or next morning that we received the pre-qualification letter.
We figured out ahead of time what we wanted our monthly budget to be (including mortgage, insurance, and taxes), so the bank gave us a range of prices that would give us that payment. Just a warning, which I'm sure you've heard before: The bank, realtor, etc. will tell you you can afford much more than you may be comfortable with. Decide how much you want to spend and stick with it.
We ended up going with a broker we found through our realtor, but that was because we were more comfortable with the broker's knowledge than with the lady at the bank. First, get pre-qualified, then find a realtor you like and start looking at houses. The realtor and person you're doing your financing through will walk you through the rest of the process. Good luck!
Thanks! I hope it's that easy for us!
We just closed on our house about a month ago.
We got the pre-approval letter from our bank and gave them very little information. I think we provided our Personal information along with our W2 and Bank Account Statements. That process took about 24 hours. You may also want to look into the difference between a conventional loan and a FHA loan and see which is the best fit for you.
My mom's a realtor so we starting looking non-stop in Feb 09 and finally closed Jan. 2010. By the time someone finally accepted our contract it took about 6 months to get the short sale approved. Of course that doesn't mean you will have our same situation. I think our timeline is the extreme case, but def. start fast, because most of the inventory out there are forclosures or short sales.
We ended up going with Regions Bank, our Mortgage Broker was amazing! The bank was super easy to deal with and made the process as smooth and painless as possible. Let me know if you want his info.
Good luck with the house hunting!
Ditto this... Do not let anyone tell you what you can afford. First sit down with your husband and calculate all your expenses and include your miscellaneous expenses so that you have an idea what you can acctually afford. This is really important so that you do not waste time looking into home that in the end you do not even have money left over for groceries.
Then get pre-approved from any bank or broker. We got our pre-approval letter from Wells Fargo on the same day and they requested the last 3 months pay stubs, w-2 and bank accounts showing some type of proof that we had the money for our down payment and closing (we sent the statements of our money market account).
And begin your search with a Realtor or start to look online. While you are searching for houses you can call different mortgage brokers for better interest rate.
one word of advice, they market is not what everyone says.. that the houses are dirt cheap and that people are accepting way low offers. So not true. Since you are in a time crunch and if you find a house that you guys really like place the best offer possible.
What area are you looking into?
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We'd like to stay in Kendall, if possible. My parents are in Kendall and when we have kids I'd like to be close to them. I don't want to be too far west, but that's where most of the new homes are going up and we want something fairly new, so I think we'd be willing to compromise.
We are fairly certain we know what our price range is, and definitely don't want to spend more than we need to on our starter home. I've been researching lenders so I think we may just start with our bank and go from there.