Getting Pre-Approved
You should know the price range you can afford before you start looking at homes. It is highly recommended to be pre-approved prior to house hunting. Here are a few things to consider:
Down Payment: You must have the down payment saved prior to purchasing a home. This is usually a percentage of the purchase price. The more you put down, the lower your mortgage will be and in the long run save you more in interest.
What can you afford: You will need to figure out how much savings you will have to put down on the home, how much income you have coming in and expenses going out so you can figure out a comfortable amount to allocate towards a mortgage payment. You need to keep in mind property taxes, monthly utility costs etc. The recommendation is that your monthly housing costs should not be more than 32% of your gross monthly income and your entire monthly debt load should not be more than 40% of your gross monthly income.
Getting Pre-Approved: This will really help you know before you start looking at homes, what you can afford. Another benefit to being pre-approved is you are locked in and protected against rising interest rates. Should the interest rates drop from when you received your pre-approval, you receive the lower rate. To get pre-approved, click on this link (Brad Chambers is our in-house Mortgage Agent)