How To Prepare To Buy Your First Home

Posted on: 28 December 2016

It is important to make sure that you are doing everything possible in order to give yourself the best shot at having a positive first-time home buying experience. When you are proactive with this, you are less likely to experience a lot of disappointment.

Save Up As Much Money As You Can

Even though you may believe that you are going to be offered a loan that does not require a down payment, it is better to be well prepared in case you need one. Then there is the expense of the closing costs. And even if you are not required to have a down payment and the closing costs could be rolled into the loan, you may still want to give as much money down as you possibly can. The more you put down, the less money you will need to borrow. This means that you will save money in the end because you will not have to worry about paying interest on borrowed money that you should have put down as a down payment in the beginning.

Double Check Your Credit

Too many people focus solely on their credit score. However, unless your credit score is absolutely perfect, it could always be improved. What you want to pay close attention to is the individual debts that are reported. Double check the information provided on all of your credit reports in order to ensure that any outstanding debts are truly truly debts that you still owe. If you have paid something off, paid on time, or it should have fallen off of your record by now due to the age of the debt -- and that is not reflected on your credit report -- you will want to file a dispute with the agency. Since the dispute process can take a few weeks to a couple of months, you will want to file the disputes as soon as possible. This way, the problems can be resolved and your credit score can be updated. This will help ensure that you are getting the best mortgage deal possible.

Shop Around For Lenders

Do not make the mistake of getting so excited over a pre-approval for your first home loan that you forget that you should shop around with different lenders. You can easily do this by using a broker who works with first time home buyers. By going that route, your credit will only be run once, and then he or she will use that information to gather a few different loan offers for you. This will ensure that you are getting the best possible deal.

Before you know it, you will be moving into the home of your dreams.

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