Let’s play a game about home mortgages. Four of these statements are false and one is true. Can you find the truth?
- Pre-Qualified Means You’re Pre-Approved
- Working with a Prestige Lending, Inc you will have more loan options available then you will at a bank.
- You Need A 20% Down Payment
- Your Income Determines How Much You Can Borrow
- It Takes 7 Years After A Foreclosure to Get A Mortgage
If your answers called out numbers 1, 3, 4 & 5 as the mortgage myths and #2 as the only true fact…you win! What do you win? A sense of pride that you have taken the steps to educate yourself on what a home mortgage is all about. Knowledge is power and that is your prize.
Let’s break down these statements for clarification on why those four points are incorrect and explain why the other is correct.
- Pre-qualified does NOT mean you fully approved. Pre-qualifying for a loan will give you a general idea of your budget based on your self-declared assets and debt, but a pre-approval goes a step further then just pulling your credit and look at your financial history in order to commit to loaning a certain amount. Prestige Lending Inc. offers a service in-between where we send your information to an underwriter to get a more solidified idea of loan amount without doing a hard credit score pull.
- When you work with a mortgage-lending firm like Prestige Lending, Inc you will get better options for loans than going to your bank directly. It’s a simple concept to grasp; loan officers tied to a bank have 3-5 options to give you for your loan with strict guidelines. However, Prestige Lending, Inc can offer better options to you and you can select what is best for your situation, budget and needs.
- You do NOT need a 20% down payment to buy a house. While a large down payment has its benefits, but it’s not required. You can put down as little as 3% to secure a conforming, conventional mortgage. In fact, many homebuyers only put 3%-15% down on their loan. There are some other factors for down payments of less than 20% that should be considered but don’t forget to call Prestige Lending and see what your best options may be.
- Your income is NOT the sole factor when determining how much you can borrow. Oneof the biggest factors is how much debt you have in relation to your gross income. Your credit score is also not a deal breaker as we have helped issue loans for those with a less than 600 credit score. Contact the team at Prestige Lending Inc. today for more information on what is going on with your DTI ratio and other qualifications other than your income.
- If you experienced a short sale of foreclosure for housing recovery you might still be able to purchase a home within 2-7 years (case by case basis). If you went through foreclosure or a short sale and are planning to apply for a mortgage in the future at any point in time, your best bet is to improve your credit as soon as possible so that you’re in a position to apply for a loan when you are ready.
Mortgages aren’t as scary as people like to think. What is scary when you don’t know what you can get and qualify for, it’s the lack of knowledge about homes and mortgages that makes them scary. Your best tool for combating this fear is to gain knowledge! At Prestige Lending, Inc this is what we do every day. So let us take the stress out of your life and we will show you all the options you have available. You are always welcome to contact the friendly team at Prestige Lending Inc. NMLS #109768 if you have questions, concerns or are even entertaining the idea of buying a home. You might be surprised to find that your idea of moving into a home someday actually a lot closer to today than you think!