5 Things To Avoid When Preparing To Buy a Home
Your Favorite Real Estate Team knows what an exciting time it is when you are getting ready to buy a home at the Lake of the Ozarks. We have a lot of experience helping clients through the process and as real estate experts at the Lake of the Ozarks we have learned some things over the years that may be surprising to someone who is not in the real estate industry. So, we wanted to share some thoughts with you regarding what to avoid when you are preparing to purchase a home. If that is something you would like to know more about, keep reading this blog!
1) Changing Jobs
Even if it shows you will be making more money, it is still
not a good idea to change jobs without talking to your mortgage officer first when you are in the process of buying a
home. The bank wants to see that you are
financially stable and one of the best ways to demonstrate that is with your
employment history. So, keep it steady and
don’t make any changes.
2) Borrowing Money
When determining what the bank is willing to loan you for
your new home, they will look at your Debt-to-Income Ratio. Borrowing money will obviously increase your
debt and affect that ratio negatively.
The same goes for co-signing on a loan of any kind or even applying for
new credit. So don’t get a Lowe’s or
Home Depot card for the no-interest payments right now. This is not the time to
buy a car or an RV or a boat. Even though
a boat is the perfect companion to your new home, you don’t want a boat (or
anything else) to be the reason you are not able to close on your lake home. It will be well worth waiting on those purchases,
so you don’t complicate your closing process.
3) Closing Existing Credit Accounts
While it seems closing credit accounts you don’t use would be
a sign of being responsible and financially frugal, it actually reduces your
credit limit. Part of your credit score
is affected by the amount of credit you have open and the percentage of it you
have used. To have a card with a fairly
high credit limit that is not maxed out can help your score. So, keep that card for now, just don’t use
it.
4) Missing Payments
Your lender will assume that if you don’t pay your bills on time,
you are more likely to default on your loan.
This can really hurt your credit score, and it is one easy thing to
fix. Consider automatic payments for a
sure way to know you will never miss one.
5) Making an Offer Without Pre-Approval
The approval process takes enough time you are likely to
lose the house before you can have the process completed. Many sellers won’t even take you seriously if
you do not have pre-approval. So, that should
be one of the very first steps you make when thinking about buying a home.
Your Favorite Real Estate Team lives and breathes real estate at the Lake of the Ozarks. We
know the local market and we love to help our clients find the lake home of
their dreams and make it their own. We
are here to help you too. If it is
finally time for you to live life at the lake, give us a call today. We are ready to be your partners in the process. For more real estate tips and news about life at the Lake of the Ozarks, be sure to follow us on our social medial
channels listed below.
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