Purcahse season is here! Here are 6 major mortgage mildstones to accomplish to make sure you are ready when you find your dream home.

1. Get Pre-approved
   In competitive markets like today with limited inventory, sellers will not even consider buyers that don’t have pre-approval for mortgage financing. It only takes a few minutes to fill out a pre-approval application. You will need to provide your lender with your basic identification information, bank statements for the past few months, tax returns from the past year, and info on any other assets or debts you have.
   We will give you a lender of PreQualification. This will give you a good idea of how much house you can afford. This pre-approval letter will also let sellers know you are serious and are ready to close the deal if your offer is accepted.
2. Check Your Credit
   We will run a check of your credit when you apply for pre-approval. Your credit score and history are a huge component of whether or not your application is accepted and how low of an interest rate you’ll be offered.  If your score is lower than you expected, we will look for any mistakes or inaccuracies and report them. Sometimes just correcting mistakes can boost your score by several points. Other big things that affect your score are late payments, maxed out accounts, and the length of credit history.  We have great tools to help you raise your credit score.
3. Lock Your Rate
   With today’s fluctuating interest rates, you could lose out on major savings by failing to lock in your rate. This is especially true if mortgage rates have been trending upward. Most rate locks are good for 30 days.
4. Purchases Before Closing!
   Once your offer is accepted and your loan is in process, please do not make any large purchases or taker out new loans. New purchases with credit will negatively impact your application because it decreases your assets and increases your debt load. So, hold off on buying things like appliances or furniture for the new house, or taking out new loans like auto loans or credit card accounts until the mortgage closes.
5. Home Inspection
   Home inspections give you a good picture of the true condition of the house, revealing any major problems with structure or systems. You want to go into this major purchase with your eyes wide open.  Inspections are worth the money.
6. Know the Full Cost of Homeownership
   It is important to know how much your monthly payment is going to be, but there is much more that goes into homeownership. Make sure any monthly payment estimates you receive include the cost of property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. You should also have some reserves on hand to pay for things like house repairs and routine maintenance.