Don't Go Shopping for a New Home Before You Know Exactly How Much You Can Spend! 

Why get pre-qualified or more importantly pre-approved for a mortgage before you begin your search for a home? Because there are 3 people who will benefit from your pre-approval: You, your Agent, and the seller from whom you eventually buy a home! 

YOU: The most important beneficiary, of course, is you. One of the most common questions we get from our clients goes something along the lines of "Please let us know how much house we can afford." We're stumped! Why? There are simply too many variables--credit history, income, debt, special mortgage programs and variations in qualifying guidelines between different mortgage types--to answer that question. The only sure way of getting the question answered is through pre-qualification. The mortgage pre-qualification step is a relatively simple one, but it is an important one. It begins the process of formally applying for a mortgage, and it gives everyone involved--especially you--a clear sense of the direction they should be headed.  

YOUR AGENT: By knowing what your financial parameters are, your Agent can spend more time looking for houses that "fit" and less time pursuing dead ends. No matter how much you might want a 4,000 square foot home for $275,000, if your qualifications say $125,000, your qualifications say $125,000. When it comes to mortgages, "yes, but" doesn't carry much weight!

THE SELLER: Want to strengthen your bargaining position? Get pre-qualified. Want your offer to stand out in a case of multiple offers for the same house? Get pre-qualified. Look at it from the seller's perspective. If you had two offers on the table for your house, one from a fully pre-qualified buyer and the other from an "I'll get around to that soon" buyer--to which offer would you devote the most attention? Even if the pre-qualified buyer's offer was $1000 less, would you take the chance on the buyer that perhaps may not be qualified? When it comes to a seller evaluating offers, "a bird in the hand..." definitely applies.  

It is important to remember that the amount of mortgage you will qualify for is the maximum. It is the amount that the lender feels you can afford, but is not necessarily the amount that you want to pay. It sometimes is advantageous to be conservative here. For example, if you qualify for a $100,000 mortgage and you have $15,000 available in cash for down payment and closing costs, you are qualified to buy homes with a maximum selling price of $115,000. So as to not push yourself to the limit, you may want to look at homes that sell in the $100,000 to $110,000 range. Too many buyers simply rush off to the $115,000 level and some find themselves strapped when it comes time to purchase necessary items (such as draperies, additional furniture and lawn and garden tools, for example) or when they forget to factor in increases in monthly expenses (for example utilities and maintenance and repair costs).  

PRE-APPROVALS: Dexter Mortgage takes the extra step and runs every pre-qualified client through the Fannie Mae system to get our pre-approval up front. The pre-approval shows us exactly what we will need to place you with a lender. This eliminates any guess work upfront so you can focus on finding your dream house and close on it in a timely manner.  

This Valuable Information is Brought to You by Dexter Mortgage Company

Jody Luckie
(979) 575-1755
jluckielo@aol.com
www.DexterMortgage.net

We can help you pre-qualify for your mortgage. It's our job! This is free and without obligation...