How to buy a home

Most first time home buyers do not understand the first step of buying a home. First time home buyers can prepare themselves and possibly pre-qualify themselves before speaking with any professional. Before searching for any homes, gather the following: 2 months of bank statements, 2 paycheck stubs, 2 years of tax returns and finally any asset statements such as a 401k, IRA or stock. When buying a home, it’s important to have these documents available because within the next few days, you’ll be asked to provide them to a local mortgage company for pre-qualifying for a home purchase. Next, you’ll need to contact a local real estate company for a good recommendation to a Loan Officer. There are several Loan Officer in the mortgage industry and it’s easy to contact one yourself; however, by contacting a local real estate broker, the Broker has a duty to follow up with the referring Loan Officer. This will ensure you receive the best possible service and enable the broker to have the best possible communication with your lender. Within a couple days of providing the paperwork you gathered to the lender, you’re file will be submitted to an FHA/Conventional underwriter for pre-approval. They mostly run home pre-approvals through an automated underwriter so it’s possible to receive an answer the same day. 

Once you have the pre-approval, you’ll be given an LSR or Loan Status Report. This must be given to the real estate broker in order to start looking at homes. Knowing your pre-approval price range is the key when buying a home. Without knowing it, a buyer could look a 50 properties and never know if they truly qualify to buy.