Get A Home Loan By Applying For A Mortgage First
The simple answer about how to get a home is to go to your local bank or call a mortgage company and apply for a mortgage. Once you get your mortgage lined up you can then go find a house. But this is in a perfect world and there is a lot more to it.
Let us cover applying for a mortgage…
As you apply for a mortgage there will be a lot of questions thrown at your from your loan officer. They will ask you questions like:
- What is your name, address, phone number, email address?
- How long have you been living where you are living?
- What do you pay in rent?
- Do you pay your rent in cash, check or money order?
- Do you pay a management company or a private landlord?
- What do you do for a living?
- How much money do you make?
- How long have you worked there?
- How long have you been in your line of work?
- Do you get over time or bonuses?
- Are you self employed?
- How is your credit?
- Have you had any bankruptcies, foreclosures etc.
- Are you married? If so, is your spouse going to be on the loan?
- How much money do you have for a down payment?
- What cash assets do you have? Do you have any 401K, IRA or Money Market Accounts?
- Are there any other sources of income that you would like to tell us about?
- Are there any other loan payments that you would like to tell us about?
- What kind of monthly mortgage payment do you want or are comfortable making?
- Do you want to escrow your taxes and insurance payments?
- How long are you planning on staying in the home you want to buy?
- Do you want an interest only loan, or a fixed rate mortgage, or an adjustable rate mortgage?
- When do you plan on buying a home?
- Are you a veteran of the military?
There are a sampling of the questions that you may get asked when you start talking with a loan officer. Depending on how you answer these questions, you may get more. Your loan officer may not ask these either.
Once your loan officer gets what they need to know and they have discussed what they think you pre qualify for, they will want to move to the next step which is to get your credit report. Getting your credit report is a very important step in how to get a home loan as it tells the loan officer what your credit history and credit scores are like. With your credit scores in hand, they can then start to really narrow down what kind of mortgage programs you will fit into.
If you plan on moving forward with getting a mortgage, your loan officer at this point after getting your credit report should send you a set of loan documents which should include a loan application and a lot of other forms for you to review, complete, sign and return. Most of what the loan officer sends you should already have much of your personal information filled in.
One of the most important documents you should get from your loan officer is the Good Faith Estimate. The Good Faith Estimate is the document that tells you exactly what your loan closing costs are going to be as well your monthly payment.
Next up in this series is what happens after you apply for a mortgage.