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First Time Home Buyers: How To Secure A Mortgage

First Time Home Buyers: How To Secure A Mortgage

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Whether you plan on buying a home in five years or five months&comma; there are things you should be aware of so you can plan and be ready&period; Your credit score is a major factor in the process&comma; as are your income and financial stability&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Grooming a proper credit score alone can take years&comma; but there are other considerations to keep in mind too&period; Take a look at this suggested timeline for those who wish to secure a mortgage within the next several years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-9396" alt&equals;"First Time Home Buyers&colon; How To Secure A Mortgage" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;medusamagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;11&sol;First-Time-Home-Buyers-How-To-Secure-A-Mortgage&period;jpg" width&equals;"602" height&equals;"400" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Embarking on a Five-Year Plan<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Not everyone has the luxury of pinpointing exactly when they&&num;8217&semi;ll be ready to buy their first home&period; Most people do have a rough mental outline of where they&&num;8217&semi;d ideally like to see themselves in the next five years though&period; Think of that mental image as a goal to work toward&period; If you see yourself owning a home within the next five years&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s time to start preparing your credit score for the ride of its life&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Develop a plan to save funds for a down payment&period; Many mortgages require 20&percnt; down&comma; so aim to save as much as humanly possible to go toward that&period; Also focus on eliminating as much debt as possible&period; Conversely&comma; if you don&&num;8217&semi;t have credit&comma; it may be a good idea to open a credit card to establish some&period; Generate a balance and pay it off monthly&period; Doing this for several years will help solidify a good credit rating&period; Lenders do look at your debt-to-income ratio&comma; so make sure it&&num;8217&semi;s within healthy range once the time comes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Three Years Out &&num;8211&semi; Reevaluate the Journey<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Once you&&num;8217&semi;ve been saving and prepping for a few years&comma; revisit your plan&period; Examine how much you&&num;8217&semi;ve been able to save over the last two years&period; This should help you determine how much home you can afford&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s also a good time to re-evaluate your debt to income ratio at this point&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You&&num;8217&semi;re still in the preliminary stages of the home buying process&comma; but stay the course&period; These years of saving and careful planning will really pay off when you start making moves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">One Year<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Things are starting to get real now&period; First-time home buyers can qualify for special mortgages&comma; so look into what&&num;8217&semi;s available through various lenders and federal programs&period; Get pre-approved before even thinking about reaching out to a realtor or start looking for houses&period; Don&&num;8217&semi;t make the mistake of starting to house-hunt before knowing what you qualify for&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Six Months &&num;8211&semi; Let&&num;8217&semi;s Go Shopping<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">While you&&num;8217&semi;re in shopping mode&comma; keep your mortgage pre-qualification in mind and stay within those parameters&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll also need to keep in mind that property taxes&comma; homeowner&&num;8217&semi;s association dues and increased utility costs will also directly affect your monthly budget&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As you&&num;8217&semi;re looking for your dream home&comma; stay open-minded about the locations you&&num;8217&semi;re willing to move to&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;re considering building a new home&comma; make sure the home builder you choose operates with a commitment to caring and a dedication to excellence&comma; like the Shea Homes Difference&period; Whether you&&num;8217&semi;re buying a brand new home&comma; building one&comma; or investing in an older home&comma; look for quality craftsmanship&comma; solid structures&comma; and longevity in the property&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The In-Between Phase<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The time span between once you&&num;8217&semi;ve been pre-approved for a mortgage but before you&&num;8217&semi;ve closed on a home can be a bit of an awkward in-between phase&period; No matter what&comma; do everything you can to keep the status quo&period; In other words&comma; you were pre-approved for your loan based upon your financial standing at the time&period; Until you&&num;8217&semi;ve closed on a new home&comma; don&&num;8217&semi;t make any major purchases&comma; open any credit cards &lpar;or use them at all for that matter&rpar;&comma; or otherwise do anything out of the ordinary for your family&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This mistake is one many hopeful homebuyers make&comma; and they pay the price for it &&num;8212&semi; in more ways than one&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Securing a mortgage for the first time can be intimating at best&period; There are so many factors that go into the mortgage process that it can be extremely overwhelming if you are not prepared&period; Buying a home for the first time is a big deal&period; Follow these steps and you&&num;8217&semi;ll be settling into your new home in no time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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