BOE Mortgage is THANKFUL for YOU
Happy November! Doesn't the beginning of each month feel like you’ve got a clean slate to try to improve and do a little better than last month and possibly try new things? Maybe you have just become vegan, but how do you survive your first vegan Thanksgiving? With just a bit of planning, you can have a plate piled high with mashed potatoes & cranberry sauce, just like everyone else sitting around the table.
Same goes for buying a house. Planning. It’s never too soon to start planning ahead if you hope to buy your first home within the next year.
Variables like loan qualifying guidelines, interest rates and house prices aren’t within your control and might change before you’re ready to move forward. But it’s still smart to start educating yourself about factors you can control, such as your down payment, credit score and housing needs and wants, as early as possible. It’s important to have a plan in place to ensure you’re on the right track for qualifying for a mortgage.
To come up with your one-year plan, you’ll need to talk to a lender who will help you figure out what type of home loan will meet your needs and how much you can borrow to buy a home based on your personal financial situation.
You’ll get to find out: Are you qualified for a $300,000 house or $400,000 house? And, based on your current credit, how much would that price require you to put down and what would your payment look like? You’ll have a much better idea of the guidelines for the different types of loans and what will be required to get the loan you’d really like.
Starting early can also help you figure out whether you want to live in a denser, more walkable community or a spread-out place where you’ll have to drive to shops and other amenities. Think about whether you want to live in a certain school district or near a particular public transit line.
Once you’ve settled on an area, talk to one or more real estate agents. Select the agent you want and rule out agents who won’t be patient with you. Be happy you sat down with them a year ahead of time rather than three months ahead of time because you can cross them off your list.
Take advantage of open houses, which are public invitations for prospective buyers to walk through for-sale homes and meet the agents who represent those properties’ sellers. Open houses are more popular than ever and the agent is there to educate you.
So about that new thing you may possibly try this month. Have you heard of the Bank of England Mortgage Fastapp? Download it to make filling out a loan application easier. Planning ahead and having this app on your phone makes the home buying process just a little bit smoother.