Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Newbie Question - Getting Pre-Approved
I'm new to posting here, so I'm sorry if I have dumb questions or if they're asked here all the time.
We're in the very beginning stages of house-hunting (we currently rent). DH and I saw a house on Friday, kind of on a whim, because we got a call from a Realtor immediately after sending an e-mail when we saw it online.
She gave us the contact information for a guy at a bank to get pre-approved. She says it's a no-risk deal, we don't have to go with him, it's just a starting point. I plan on e-mailing him tomorrow. What should I expect? What will he need to know? Can we do it all through e-mail or are we going to have to meet with him in person at some point?
Thanks in advance!
Re: Newbie Question - Getting Pre-Approved
Yes, can be done by phone, email, fax etc. They'll need documentation of your income, taxes, bank statments (along with papertrails for any large deposits), etc. If you're getting a specialty loan - FHA, VA, etc make sure your lender is familiar with them and the requirements of each.
Is the lender a broker? This can be beneficial because they can shop multiple loans for you. Other direct writers can be more flexible with their loan conditions.
What I've found to be most important is a lender who's responsive, alwas on the ball, and familiar with the type of loan you're applying for.
This! We got pre-approved from two places, but be careful how many times you do it, because each time you get pre-approved, they pull your credit, which can actually harm it. Look up the type of loan you want first, and the ball park of how much you want to spend on a house. Look at houses in the area, and recent sales. Mortgages are at a low right now (DH and I got it for 3.99%!!) so it's a great time to buy a house!!
Ditto! A law was recently passed that allowed people to shop loans without it "dinging" your credit multiple times. Shopping loans within a 45-day period should only show up on your report as one inquiry. But yes, make sure you are ready before you have a bunch of people running your credit and keep in mind that 45-day time frame.
Before handing your lender your SSN have them review the other criteria they'll need to see if you qualify - income, debt, etc. - then if everything looks good move forward. Also, not a bad idea to check out your credit score yourself, sites like freecreditreport.com do not give you your real credit score, but will help you get an idea of what it is. You are also entitled to one free credit report per year from the credit reporting agencies, you can go on their websites (Experian, Transunion, Equifax) to get it.