Monday, May 12, 2008

What every first time home buyer should know before obtaining a mortgage


GET PRE-APPROVED

One common mistake most homebuyers make is not getting a pre-approval. This will give your realtor an idea of what price range they can begin searching for. A Pre-approval is a powerful tool that can tell you how much you can qualify for, and its best that you disclose everything, to avoid any surprises before the final closing date.

The Pre-approval allows you to hold the rate you were approved at, for a period of 120 days. This could be beneficial for you in a world of increasing interest rates. However, if rates should fall between your pre-approval date and your final closing date, you are guaranteed the lowest rate in that 120 day period.

OBTAIN A COPY OF YOUR CREDIT REPORT

Do you know what your credit rating looks like? Most of us don’t. I’d suggest you obtain a copy of your own credit report. You may obtain a free report at http://www.equifax.ca/
It is a good idea to fix up any credit issues you have before the mortgage process to ensure that you get the rate you deserve.

COME PREPARED

Before meeting with your mortgage broker, ask your employer to draw up a letter of employment for you, and bring it along with your latest paystub. This will make the
Pre-approval process much more efficient, and you’ll be able to start shopping for your dream home with your realtor in no time !

http://www.mortgagealliance.com/vivienlai
Guest Contribution by Vivien Lai, Mortgage Alliance Mortgage Specialist. Feel free to contact Vivien at 416 816 8252

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I appreciate this rather useful article and suggest to use its output in the practice, for instance, using online mortgage calculator on the website of Fizber.

Anonymous said...

thank you for an interesting post, I suggest to use online mortgage calculator on the website of Fizber, it will help.