Eight Steps to Home Ownership

Buying a home may seem complicated, but the various professionals, from realtors to home Mortgage Brokers and title officers, take care of most of the details along the way. See for yourself. Here’s what you can expect:

Step One: Determine Your Purchasing Power
Before you begin home shopping, it helps to figure out your budget. That way there are no surprises later and you can fully enjoy home ownership rather than look at is as a burden.

To determine your purchasing power, consider the following items: monthly income, monthly debts, down payment amount, loan closing costs, and your credit history. Homeloancenter.com provides the following mortgage calculator to assist you in your research: Mortgage Calculator.

Step Two: Pre-Qualification
Pre-qualifying for a particular home loan amount helps your realtor focus your home search so that you will be looking just at homes within your price range. In fact, many realtors require either a pre-qualification letter or a certificate of pre-approval before showing homes. Pre-qualification begins by speaking with your lender and providing such information as your income and current debts. You won’t have to supply any supporting documentation until you actually start the home loan process. The lender simply uses this information to quickly determine how much you can afford to borrow.

Step Three: Pre-Approval
Obtaining a Pre-Approval prior to shopping for a home is the best way of demonstrating your ability to purchase a home. Pre-approval offers are also given stronger consideration than pre-qualification letters alone. You’ll provide us with documentation such as W-2 Forms, Paycheck Stubs, and Savings/Checking Account Statements. We will run a credit report to establish credit worthiness. It requires a little more work up front, but really pays off by minimizing any last-minute problems that may impact the loan closing. And as previously noted, sellers and realtors take home purchase offers presented with a certificate of pre-approval more seriously. If you do not qualify of the loan you need we will work with you to help you understand what obstacles you currently have and how best to overcome them.

We provide a no-cost, no-obligation pre-approval letter in minutes. You may contact one of our knowledgeable Loan Officers at 713.621.4400 or toll free 866.235.6425 to obtain a pre-approval letter.

Step Four: Make a Wish List
To ensure that your new home meets your needs, we’ve created a checklist to help you identify and prioritize features you are looking for in a new home. This form also includes a contact list for organizing all the key people involved in your home purchase. You can access a list now Home Finding Checklist (attach a pdf).

Step Five: Search for a Home
Now we get to the fun part: searching for your ideal home! There are several ways to do this. You can browse the homes for sale in the classified section of your local newspaper, visit open houses, or find a realtor. A realtor not only has access to homes not always advertised in the paper, but will help you locate homes that meet your price, size and other criteria. Let us help you find a realtor(attach to our link) in your area.

Step Six: Make an offer
Typically the homebuyer or the realtor will present an offer to the seller or their representative that includes the following information:

The proposed offer price.
Seller concessions.
Financing contingencies.
Home inspections contingencies.
A specific outline of what is to be included in the saleof the Home.
The “Earnest Money” deposit amount to be tendered with the offer.
Home Warranties.

A closing date for the home sale/loan. After the seller reviews your offer, they will eitheraccept it, reject it, or make a counter-offer. Any change to an offer is considered a counter-offer. An offer does not become a contract until both parties accept it. After acceptance, you and the seller will sign a home purchase agreement to finalize the deal.

Step Seven: Lock-in an interest rate
After signing a home purchase agreement, you’re ready to lock in an interest rate. This freezes your interest rate and protects you against market fluctuations for a specific time period. We offer same day pre-approvals and the ability to customize you interest rate locks. This allows you to take advantage of the best rates when they are available.

Step Eight: Closing
After locking-in your rate, your Loan Officer will go to work to close your home loan in concert with all third-party vendors. A processing specialist will schedule an appraisal and will make certain that your file is complete and ready for final underwriting review. While all of this is going on, your escrow and title companies are working to gather the proper paperwork and approvals. Once all escrow conditions are met, the home loan is ready to fund, record, and close.

We offer one of the most comprehensive home mortgage loan selections available anywhere. Simply fill out a loan application or call and speak to one of our experienced Loan Officers at 713.621.4400 or toll free 1.866.235.6425 to find the home loan program that’s right for you.