Whether buying a home, townhome or building lot, the first step in beginning to look at property is to know how much you can afford.  Some people expect more than they will be able to qualify for, which means they won’t be able to get financing to purchase any of the the homes they are looking at.  Others may not be comfortable with the amount of loan, and therefore monthly payment, with which lenders are willing to provide them.  Therefore, your first step is to talk with a lender.  Your Real Estate Agent can provide you with names of good lenders who will give you straight facts.  Not-so-good lenders will gladly take your money for application and other fees regardless of whether or not they think they can get your loan through; you will not get these fees back if you don’t get the loan.

Most lenders can pre-qualify Buyers over the phone in a matter of minutes.  Pre-qualfication lets you know what the bank is comfortable loaning to you, prepares you for the amount of monthly payment associated with the loan, and gives you the confidence you need when negotiating your Offer to Purchase and Contract.  Even as we head into a somewhat slower market than we have recently experienced, even properties that have been on the market for months can suddenly put Buyers into multiple offer situations.  Knowing the price you are comforatable with helps you make the quicker decisions sometimes needed, and having a pre-qualification letter to submit with your offer helps ensure that the Seller takes your offer seriously. 

A good lender has lots of loan programs from which to choose, is creative, and can help you choose the loan program that is in your best interests.  Although there are some very good Banks to whom I refer some clients, I often recommend Mortgage Brokers because they tend to have access to a wider variety of loan programs.  This is especially important if you have special needs or are in certain situations:  for instance, low cash for down payment, you already own a house which hasn’t sold yet, you are a veteran and want to use a VA loan, you are self-employed as of yet without a proven track record, etc. 

Beware of “internet lenders” who may not be accessible when the going gets tough.  When you use a local lender, you or your agent can get in touch with the lender to find out what’s wrong and help come up with creative solutions to get your loan through.  When problams do arise, many internet lenders don’t return e-mails or phone calls, and you have no way to stop in their office (if they haven’t responded to you) to determine what the problem is and fix it.  In addition, internet lenders, because they aren’t familiar with the local area, often employ appraisers from other areas who do not know our area and as a result, your loan can have appraisal problems and be rejected when you in fact, as well as the property, are actually well qualified! 

At Great Triangle Homes - The Shuping Advantage Team at Keller Williams Realty, we have had great results with Carolina Home Mortgage and their friendly, solution-based service.  We’ve had them get loans through for our clients who had started with another lender who couldn’t make the loan, and not only did Carolina Home Mortgage get the loans through but they did it with better rates than the previous lender had quoted!  You can learn a lot on their website at http://carolinahomemortgage.com/ or come into the Keller Williams office and meet one of their representatives, David Field who maintains an office conveniently within our own, and view David’s website at www.loansnc.com