Are you interested in buying a home? DO NOT call a Realtor.

Well, don’t call a Realtor until you have done some work first, which includes getting pre-approved by a Mortgage Loan Officer (preferably myself of course). The reason being is that Realtors will not invest the time and effort to show you a home until they know whether you can obtain a home loan, and how much you can afford. In addition, any seller will not look at an offer unless they know the person making the offer can buy their house. Once you have been pre-approved then I recommend that you do contact a Realtor to assist you in the search for a home, and to represent you throughout the contract process. There are many qualified professional Realtors in our area and I would be happy to recommend some to you if you don’t already have one in mind. So, let’s go to square one and get started.

In order to get started on the path of becoming a homeowner, the very first thing you need is the desire to do what it takes to meet the requirements to qualify for a mortgage, and to submit to your Loan Officer to allow yourself to be led through the process. I will explain the whole process to you when we meet, and I will lay out the next step as we progress toward getting your mortgage approved and closed. If you can commit to those two principles, we will have a foundation to get you moved into a home of your own somewhere between three weeks and six months, depending on your situation.

Here are the basic requirements that we need to get you pre-approved for your home loan. Even these are not all set in stone, as every case is unique. However, your mortgage will be an easy experience from here. We will discuss details together.

• A FICO score of 600 or better (having a 640 will make it easier for you)

• A debt to income ratio of 43% or less

• No Bankruptcies in the last two years, with a clean history following it

• No foreclosures in the last three years, with a clean history following it

If you meet the above criteria, great! We should get an application completed and start getting a pre-approval done. If not, don’t fret, we can work together and get you where you need to be within six months. In many cases it will be less, but my question to you is this: Are you willing to what is required to be closing on a mortgage within six months? If your answer is ‘yes’ I want to guide you there.