Once your offer has been accepted on the home you would like to purchase one of the things that is suggested is for you to get a home inspection. What is a home inspection? Well, one of the best ways to understand the property’s condition is to hire a qualified home inspector. It is recommended you contact and interview at least two to three different home inspectors in order to find one that will meet your individual needs.  Inspectors are familiar with the building codes and will help look for flaws in the home your are purchasing.

The following are some important questions to ask before making your final selection;

1. How long have you been in the home inspection business?
2. What are your qualifications?
3. Are you a member of any inspection organization or association?
4. How many resale home inspections have you completed?
5. If I hired you today, when would you be available to complete my inspection?
6. What will the inspection cover?
7. How long is your average inspection and how long after it’s completed will I receive my report?
8. How much will the inspection cost?
9. May I attend my inspection? May my real estate agent also attend?
10. Do you provide estimates for repairs and improvements?
11. Can I contact you post-inspection for any questions?

These are just a few questions and you may have more but hopefully this will help you when it is your time to need a home inspection.

Talk to you soon, Patti

After looking at the comparables for the area a reasonable offer for the home of your dreams is agreed upon and your realtor will submit to the sellers real estate agent. Once submitted, the Sellers agent will come back with an accepted offer, or the negotiations will begin until an agreement is met.  With Foreclosures or Short Sales the time frame will be longer. Foreclosures can take up to 60 days from offer acceptance to closing.

Now that the offer is accepted the contract is sent over by your realtor to the Mortgage Broker or Bank and they will start the loan completion process.  Up until now you as the buyer have a pre-approval letter.  It is your mortgage broker/bankers’ responsiblity to stay on top of getting your loan closed.  There will be various documents needed to complete this process.  Whatever you do, do not go purchase anything on credit that might change your approval status. 

While this is going on there is an option period that you as a buyer can pay a small fee normally $10 a day for 10days.  This will give you time to have the home inspected to ensure there is no costly damage, such as foundation or roof repairs needed and to ensure no termite damage.

Once the inspection is done and the loan is approval process is completed  the mortgage folks will order an appraisal, and the title company orders the survey,

This process is normally done within a 30 day period unless it is a foreclosure and then it can take longer. Before you go to closing your realtor will receive a HUD statement which breaks down the expenses for closing on the home and will let you know what $$ amount is needed. There are a lot of documents that must be signed so expect the closing to take about 45 minutes.

Heres to wishing you luck on your new home purchase, give me a call I will help you….www.pattimace.com or pattimace@sbcglobal.net.

Talk again soon,

Patti

I wanted to touch base on one of the major issues people deal with when trying to make a major purchase such as a home.  The interest rate you are quoted when purchasing a home is based on your credit score that is pulled from the 3 major Credit Reporting agencies. These agencies get this calculated information from different companies who lend credit and if paid on time it gives you a rating, the higher the better!  With help from Wikipedia I want to get the word out to individuals how important it is to try and maintain your credit.

Credit ratings are determined differently in each country, but the factors are similar, and may include:

• Payment record – a record of bills being overdue will lower the credit rating.
• Control of debt – Lenders want to see that borrowers are not living beyond their means. Experts estimate that non-mortgage credit payments each month should not exceed more than 15 percent of the borrower’s after tax income.
• Signs of responsibility and stability – Lenders perceive things such as longevity in the borrower’s home and job (at least two years) as signs of stability. Having a respected profession can improve a credit rating.
• Credit inquiries – An inquiry is a notation on a credit history file. There are several kinds of notations that may or may not have an adverse effect on the credit score. Soft pulls don’t affect the credit score and are characteristic of the following examples:

A credit bureau may sell a person’s contact information to an advertiser purchasing a list of people with similar characteristics, like homeowners with excellent credit. A creditor can check a person’s credit periodically. Or, a credit counseling agency, with the client’s permission, can obtain a client’s credit report with no adverse action. Each of the preceding examples are commonly referred to as a “soft” credit pull.

However “hard” credit inquiries are made by lenders. Lenders, when granted a permissible purpose by a borrower for the purposes of extending his credit, can check his credit history. Hard inquiries from lenders directly affect the borrower’s credit score. Keeping credit inquiries to a minimum can help a person’s credit rating. A lender may perceive many inquiries on a person’s report as a signal that the person is looking for loans and will possibly consider that person a poor credit risk.

• Credit cards that are not used – Although it is believed that having too many credit cards can have an adverse effect on a credit score, closing these lines of credit will not improve your score. The credit rating formula looks at the difference between the amount of credit a person has and the amount being used, so closing one or more accounts will reduce your total available credit. And the lower the percentage of available credit, the more the credit score will drop. The credit formula also factors in the length of time credit accounts have been open, so closing an account with several years of history is another avoidable credit mistake.

Consequences

The information in a credit report is sold by credit agencies to organizations that are considering whether to offer credit to individuals or companies. It is also available to other entities with a “permissible purpose.” The consequence of a negative credit rating is typically a reduction in the likelihood that a lender will approve an application for credit under favorable terms, if at all. Interest rates on loans are significantly affected by credit history—the higher the credit rating, the lower the interest while the lower the credit rating, the higher the interest. The increased interest is used to offset the higher rate of default within the low credit rating group of individuals.

In the United States, in certain cases, insurance, housing, and employment can also be denied based on a negative credit rating.

Note that is not the credit reporting agencies that decide whether a credit history is “adverse.” It is the individual lender or creditor which makes that decision, each lender has its own policy on what scores fall within their guidelines. The specific scores that fall within a lender’s guidelines is most often NOT disclosed to the applicant due to its nature as a trade secret. In the United States, a creditor is required to give a reason for denying credit to an applicant immediately and must also provide the name and address of the credit reporting agency who provided data that was used to make the decision.

Credit Bureaus

Several credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian, TransUnion .

I know that this is a lot of information to take in, but the lower the interest rate the more home you can purchase. I will let you absorb this information and then blog more on the various mortgage notes based on the interest rate.

If you have guestion email me at pattimace@sbcglobal.net.  Hope to see you subscribe to my blog at www.pattimace.com.

Chat again soon,

Patti