Today Steve Hankla joins us from New American Funding to help answer some questions you might have and give some tips on how to get your financial house in order before you buy a home.
- How soon should I talk to a lender? About six to 12 months before you plan on actually purchasing and searching for a property.
- How important is credit score when buying a home? A lot of people assume they have to have high scores, but mortgage lenders like New American Funding will actually go down to a score for as low as 580 for FHA transactions. Of course, if you have a score better than 800, they wouldn’t turn you away either. Remember: the higher the score, the better.
- What can a lender do to help improve my credit score? After they see your credit, a lender can see where the challenges are and best direct you on what to do to clean up your credit. If you follow some careful instructions, you can pretty much clean it up yourself.
- How would a past foreclosure or short sale affect my ability to buy a home? There are different programs that allow people to get into a property in a short amount of time (as little as two years for veterans). There are also more conventional products that offer 20% down or more for those who’ve had a short sale within two years. For FHA, if you’ve had a foreclosure you can get into a property after three years. This means many people who suffered during the financial meltdown can now buy a home again.
- What kind of down payment do I typically need to have? With FHA, the lowest amount is 3.5%. Conventional loans have both 3% and 5% programs available. Veterans don’t need any down payment whatsoever.
If you have any more questions or would like to start your own pre-approval process, you can reach Steve by phone at 562.344.5546, or email him at Steve@gotoloanpro.com. If you know anyone looking to buy or sell a home, you can reach me at 562.900.9430. Thanks for tuning in, make it a great day.
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