Getting a home mortgage loan can be one of the most exciting experiences in a person’s life but if you want to be approved, there are some things you need to know. The following hints will make the process easier and less stressful.
Hint #1: Get Pre-Approved
Too many buyers make the mistake of shopping around for a home before they start looking for a lender. The result can be disappointment. For one, you may not qualify for enough of a home mortgage loan to purchase the places you are the most interested in having. In fact, you might be shocked to find out you don’t qualify at all. With the tightening restrictions now, many people who thought they would breeze through the home mortgage loan approval process have found out the hard way how wrong they were.
Another advantage of getting pre-approved is that you have more to bargain with. Let’s say you see a great house but it’s about $15,000 more than you want to spend. If you’ve been approved for a certain amount, you can use that as leverage to get the price down, especially in this market. Also, you’ll be more likely to find a good pricing area in which to focus your search efforts – that means you won’t have unrealistic expectations.
Hint #2: Have Required Documents Ready
When you go into the home mortgage loan process, you might think you’re trying to get government security clearance or applying for a passport. You are required to provide a great deal of documentation. For example, you will obviously need to prove your identity using identification and social security cards. Be sure to have both. Make sure your license or ID is current.
You’ll also need proof of employment in the forms of pay stubs. If you don’t have pay stubs, acquire a notarized letter from your employer showing when you were hired, how often you work, and what you earn. Make sure this will be sufficient for your lender. Make sure you also have copies of your taxes for the previous two years. If you don’t keep copies, you can contact the IRS who will either mail or fax you copies. There is a slight charge involved in most cases.
Make sure you also have information about your current landlord or mortgage. The lender will want to see this as well.
Hint #3: Correct Errors on Credit Report
A few months before you decide to apply for your home mortgage loan you need to request free copies of your credit report from all three of the bureaus – Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Review those reports carefully to make sure no mistakes are present. There’s a good chance you’ll find something wrong but, hopefully, it will be something small and inconsequential.
If you do find any serious mistakes, immediately write up a letter to the reporting agency and work on getting the mistake corrected. Any negative errors could end up ruining your chances of getting a home mortgage loan.
