Lenders may use the terms pre-qualification and pre-approval interchangeably, but it’s generally understood that there are different levels of evaluation and approval available nowadays. Our goal is to make sure you understand what information your lender will be verifying and what assumptions they’re making when evaluating your financial scenario. What’s the Difference Between a Pre-Qualification… Continue Reading
If you’re in the market to buy a home, or are considering refinance options for a home you already own, you’re likely to be presented with a range of mortgage products to choose from. Making an informed decision between a fixed rate mortgage and an adjustable rate mortgage comes down to your future plans for… Continue Reading
If the last time you shopped for a mortgage was over a decade ago, then you might be surprised by how much the menu of loan offerings has changed. Immediately following the housing crash, mortgage meltdown, and economic recession of the late 2000s, loan programs began to disappear and an overhaul of industry guidelines and… Continue Reading
A couple of years ago we published a piece about how to get a mortgage even if you have student loans. Back then the mortgage industry was different and eventually the information aged on us. It happens, we can’t possibly predict how things will change, all we can do is try to stay on top… Continue Reading
So, you’re interested in getting a mortgage, but you know for a fact that you’re anything but an ideal candidate. You’ve resigned yourself to a life of renting and living under other people’s rules, because there’s no way you’re going to get your debt-to-income ratio into an ideal place and there’s not a house to… Continue Reading
When most people think of VA mortgages, they assume they’re for the benefit of the families of actively serving members of the various branches of the military. Although military families are certainly eligible for VA mortgages, I wanted to put together a piece about all the other folks who can also get these loans. They’re… Continue Reading
Earlier this summer, a friend of mine was looking to buy a house and although their Realtor assured them that it was a slam dunk and everything was fine with their paperwork and they had a legitimately significant down payment, there were complications. In fact, their appraisal came in a little over eight percent short.… Continue Reading
In the first part of this series, we covered the problems you might encounter because of the public record, and in the second, we discussed fixing issues with your credit file — part three is all about the “other” stuff that didn’t quite fit into the first two. There are countless miscellaneous issues you might… Continue Reading
Last time we had a long talk about the public record and how you can deal with public record items on your credit report. You’re armed to handle things like bankruptcies and judgments, but not everyone actually has to deal with those. These are extreme results of issues in the other main part of your… Continue Reading
It’s a story I’ve heard a thousand times, “I want to get a mortgage, but….” and then the person tells me a tragic story of a credit problem they believe to be insurmountable. Even though I’m not a Realtor anymore, I still hear it from friends and family members who know I write this blog.… Continue Reading