Home financing
Get organized.
There’s a lot of paperwork with mortgages and banks can request information throughout the process. It sometimes feels never ending, and prevents you from shopping around. By following this guide though, you can stay organized and make it much easier for you.
Get organized before shopping for a mortgage
The key to getting a great deal is in having options. The mortgage process can easily overwhelm home buyers, so following these steps helps you have less to do, and be able to shop around more easily without getting worn down.
- Know what to prepare ahead
- Get our organizational system
- See our debt/income sheets you can use
Get set up to get the best deal.
Screening loan officers is a step that many people skip – but studies show that shopping around results in the best deal possible, resulting in thousands of dollars in savings over time. Here’s a guide and step-by-step script to make it easy to find loan officers that work for you.
A word-for-word script on how to screen mortgage loan officers
It’s hard to pick a loan officer. Yes, you’ll want to get recommendations, but just because your colleague thinks they got a good deal with someone they used doesn’t mean you should stop there. Being able to shop around means getting the best deal, and really knowing what’s out there for you.
Don’t skip this step! We make it easy with a word-for-word script you can use.
Find your sweet spot for home price.
There are a lot of ways you can go about finding out what price you want to pay for a home. Don’t leave it up to a loan officer to tell you what you can afford. Financial decisions are personal. Here’s a tool you can use to find out your magic number.
What price home can I afford?
There are suggested ways that you can figure out what price home you can afford, but the best way is to work up your current expenses, and plan for your short and long term goals, and find a home that fits within your overall, personal financial goals.
How much do you want to save for retirement? What are your other household expenses? Do you have debt you want to pay off? This spreadsheet is for you to make your own individual inventory of your expenses so you can see what type of mortgage you are comfortable with.
It’s great to do this work yourself. A loan officer will tell you the maximum home value that you qualify for, but that may not suit your other needs!
What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? [Video]
There’s practically no resource out there that lets people really know how adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) work. If you are interested in possibly getting one, here’s a movie that’s easy to digest and will leave you with the info you need.