The pre-approval has been completed. Loan estimates have been received and closing disclosures finally settled on. This is it! The purchase transaction on your dream home is next to complete. But the closer your closing gets, the more you might be wondering: how do I prepare all the documents and payments required? How do I seal the deal and land those keys without a hitch? Preparation is paramount when it comes to a smooth closing. For example, lenders will often time a closing later in the month. From a first-time homebuyer perspective, this helps you get the most out of a previous renting lease or housing engagement. From a cash-flow perspective, the less time between a signing means less interest that is brought to the table at closing! The good news is that all of the details should be set out in front of you with plenty of time to spare. If all goes according to plan, you should find yourself within your home by the end of the week! Let’s go over the different points of the process that you’ll find yourself moving through.

Be An A-Level Mortgage Borrower

We all know that closing is an enormous commitment, so communication is always key! Everyone involved—the seller’s real estate agent, your lender, and both the buying and selling attorneys—will all plan the closing in advance, so keep in contact and you’ll work through the transaction with confidence!

Ask The Right Questions.

Remember that you have a right to understand 100 percent of what you are closing on. Ask questions until you understand every part of the transaction, and never be afraid to negotiate until you feel comfortable signing on the deal.

Avoid Rushing.

Close at a time that’s agreeable and on your terms, minimizing the chance for something to go wrong. Prepare all the required documents for closing ahead of time. That includes closing documents like Homeowners Insurance, two pieces of identification, and methods of payment for down payment and associated fees. Consider conducting an additional walk-through on the property before close to guarantee you’re getting your money’s worth. Review agreed-upon repairs. After all, you deserve your money’s worth!

Expect the Unexpected.

Always remember—things happen! You might consider bringing an additional method of payment, such as personal checkbook, to ensure smaller fees or unforeseen expenses do not come in the way of making your transaction any more difficult. And if that little voice inside your head feels like something is wrong or is confused, trust that feeling and speak up! You deserve to enjoy your new home, and closing is the best time to prevent any future foreseeable problems. If all goes according to plan, after flexing your pen hand and signing several documents, you’ll leave that closing meeting with the keys to your brand-new house!Let us know how we can help with your closing experiences! If you have any additional questions, feel free to shoot us a call at (888)644-1999, and be sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter!

The holiday season is finally here! Leaves are changing colors, the flannel bed sheets have come out, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. If you can’t afford to travel or cook this month, that doesn’t mean you should miss out or spend Turkey Day alone—turn your Thanksgiving into a Friendsgiving instead. Plenty of your friends, co-workers, and neighbors are most likely staying in town too, so consider hosting a festive get-together this year. Here are a few ways to make sure your Friendsgiving will be a great one.

Suggest a potluck

The most stressful part about hosting a holiday dinner is the “dinner” itself. Between cooking the turkey, preparing the side dishes, making dessert, and trying to sync up the timing of everything, Thanksgiving can be a huge hassle. Instead, have each of your guests bring a dish. It’ll make your life easier, and it’ll make your guests feel more included in the holiday. Just be sure to plan beforehand who’s bringing which dish, because you don’t want to end up with seven pumpkin pies and no mashed potatoes.

Save oven space

Whether your guests bring food or you prepare the meal yourself, always be observant of your oven space. Normally, when a guest brings a dish over, it simply needs to be warmed up. But we all have that one friend who brings a big bag of assorted ingredients, then expects you to have a clean pan and available oven space. So be prepared to improvise, and try to bake everything at 350 degrees — because nearly everything can be baked at 350 degrees.

Make guests feel welcome

Not everyone at your dinner party is going to know one another, so make everyone feel welcome. That could be a simple introduction at the front door, a football game on the TV, or some party games. Music is also a great way to get people out of their comfort zones and mingling with strangers.

Drinks for everyone!

When you’re celebrating the holidays with friends, beer and wine is almost always a necessity. Try offering fall cocktails for a little bit of festive fun, and designate one of your guests to be the bartender. Be sensitive to others, too. Some people may bring children, and others may not drink alcohol at all. So be prepared with plenty of nonalcoholic drinks like hot apple cider and cocoa.

Keep the kids busy

Having children at Thanksgiving definitely makes it feel more like a holiday. But it can also lead to temper tantrums and comments like, “I’m bored!” and “I want to go home!” Try giving kids activities to do until dinner is served, such as board games, build-your-own desserts, or, if all else fails, a good DVD to watch.

Be safe

Holiday dinners usually involve some holiday drinking, so be a considerate host and have spare bedrooms and couches ready for sleepovers. If you don’t have any extra room, suggest that your guests carpool home, make a pot of coffee after dinner, or have the number of a taxi service on hand. The key to a great Friendsgiving (or a Thanksgiving with family) is to have a fun, stress-free day. If you’re interested in buying a bigger home for future holidays, get in touch with us anytime. And don’t forget to share your own Turkey Day ideas with us on Twitter and Facebook.

Housing costs count toward a major chunk of your budget. For some families, payments pile up until chunks become unbearable and impossible to pay. But there are ways to work on your mortgage, piece-by-piece and chunk-by-chunk. Essentially, the more you spend the more manageable your mortgage on a monthly basis! Paying off your mortgage as fast as you can might not sound like a priority, but by making it one you can potentially save thousands over the life of your mortgage. Maybe even more if you’re only paying the minimum on a costly home! Let’s go over some methods that will help you start slowly paying off your mortgage, saving yourself a long-term hassle and lightening the load on your financial burden.

Make Smaller, Extra Payments

Minimum payments might be a feat for some, but try to consider your options! Jot out both yearly and monthly budgets to make wiggle room for any extra dollars that could be paid into anything accruing interest in your life. Use a mortgage calculator to estimate your average mortgage payments. Don’t overreach for the maximum payment, look for additional funds you can set aside in case of a rainy day. Pennies here and there may not seem much, but they’ll save thousands on the life of your mortgage, having little to no impact on your overall budgets. Putting saved money towards a principal interest will help you save not just on the overall amount, but on extra amounts that go towards rate. Lenders consider these things when putting together lower rates and accelerated payment schedules. It also helps with negotiations towards refinancing!

Refinance!

Some like to see more concrete numbers when it comes to your mortgage payment. You can talk to your lender about refinancing your terms, writing out a new plan based on updated rates, monthly payments, and longer or shorter terms. One great way to repay your mortgage early is to request your terms to be shortened, either from the traditional 30-year rate to a 20, 15, or even 10-year rate! A good way to severely lower how much your paying is to play with these rates as you go over time. What happens to your mortgage if you borrow on a 4.0% rate. For example, if you borrow $60,000 on a $100,000 house you could be spending roughly $286 a month on a 30-year mortgage. Overall, you’ll be paying a total of $102,960 over the course of a 30-year term. On a 15-year mortgage, your payments will be $444, spending $79,886 through those 15 years! While $444 isn’t quite double $286, you’ll be spending roughly 2/3 the total amount in half the time! So consider using the full amount of your budget to sign on a 15 or 10-year mortgage. Signing on to a 15-year mortgage may cause you to spend more monthly, but paying it off in half the time is an easy possibility that could ultimately save you tens of thousands in long-term payments. You could even receive an additional lower rate, so apply online today to see how refinancing works!

Additional Payments

One negative to refinancing your mortgage to a shorter term is the risk you inherit. What if something in your life happens where you can’t afford doubling payments? Some lenders allow you to halve the risk and qualify for additional payments on your interest. On top of your monthly, mandatory payments to your interest could help to chip away at how much you’re going to spend! Budget to cover additional payments as you’re paid, perhaps every other week as you’re paid, or split larger payments over the course of a year. Splitting payments across longer periods are another great way to gain the benefits of a 15-year mortgage, without locking in the commitment of new rates a long-term change can bring. There are many other ways to shave off points and dollars during the extent of your mortgage. Who knows? Following these steps could even completely buy off your house! Do you have questions? Send them to our professional specialists online! If you want an answer a little more quickly, contact us on Twitter or Facebook today!

At First Option, we believe all homebuyers should secure a pre-approved mortgage before looking at homes. We have many reasons for believing this, and all of them are because, ultimately, our clients benefit from pre-approval. We also realize, though, many people have mortgage questions about being pre-approved. We’ve assembled the most common of these and answered them here.

1. What is a pre-approved mortgage?

Let’s start with the basics. A pre-approved mortgage is like a promise from a lender that when you find a home you want to buy, you’ll be able to borrow a pre-determined amount of money. You’re not making a commitment to the lender, but the lender is making a commitment to potential sellers that you’re financially capable of borrowing a mortgage. You can go through the pre-approval process, browse listings and even bid on a home, but if you eventually decide not to buy, you can, with no repercussions.

2. How do I get pre-approved?

Because it’s official, pre-approving a mortgage requires the same information as applying for a mortgage. You’ll have to supply your lender pay stubs, your previous two years of W-2 forms and federal tax returns, two months of statements for all of your bank accounts, and your credit report. It takes some effort to assemble all of these documents, but it’s always better to do this sooner than later.

3. I’ve been pre-qualified: Is that enough?

Nope. Pre-qualification is just an estimate lenders provide based on general information you tell them. Legally, it doesn’t hold any weight, which is especially important when you’re ready to bid on a home. You’ll receive a general idea of the size of a loan you can probably borrow, but other things like credit report errors can get in the way of that. Pre-approval gives you a solid figure and assurance that you’re financially able to buy a home.

4. Does pre-approval guarantee a mortgage?

No. A pre-approved mortgage is not the same thing as a mortgage. If rates fluctuate and your own financial position changes before you bid on a home, you may not receive the same mortgage and term for which you were pre-approved. Locking in your mortgage rate is different from the pre-approval process. Still, pre-approval will demonstrate that you’re a credible buyer, which will give you a competitive edge.

5. Do you need pre-approval to look for a home?

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, yes, yes. Here’s why: Unless you’re an investor who plans to buy a home in cash, you actually don’t have any financial means to buy a home without being pre-approved. It’s like walking into a grocery store without knowing how much you have in your bank account. If you have $10, the most you can buy is a meal for yourself. If you have $20,000 saved up, you can cater a whole neighborhood block party. Pre-approved mortgages reveal just how much you can spend on a home, which affects the kind of homes you can (and should) consider purchasing. You have to know your price range before you make any purchase, especially a purchase as large as a home.

6. Do you need a pre-approved mortgage to buy a home?

In a word, yes. Home sellers are unlikely to accept an offer for their home unless you’ve been pre-approved—meaning: You’ll have to do it eventually. Delaying the pre-approval process is like avoiding the dentist out of fear she’ll discover a cavity. The reality is, you do or don’t have a cavity, regardless of whether or not you visit the dentist, and you have to go at some point, ideally before your tooth has fallen out. If you secure a pre-approved mortgage, you can look for homes more confidently, knowing that if you make a good offer within your pre-approved budget, there’s a better chance the seller will accept.

7. What if I don’t qualify for a pre-approved mortgage?

Don’t give up! This is the time to learn why you didn’t qualify. There are millions of errors on credit reports, and millions of line items that aren’t errors but things you can still fix to improve your credit score. It’s better to know about these things at the outset, so you can correct them before you officially bid on a home.

8. Can I skip pre-approval if I’m in a hurry to buy?

That’s actually going to be counterproductive. Pre-approval speeds the home-buying process up, because it often saves your underwriter time when you’re officially applying for the mortgage. If the underwriter finds discrepancies in your financial records, it can halt the whole process, giving another bidder a chance to snatch the home out from under you. If you’re pre-approved, those snafus can be resolved earlier, smoothing out the process later. Our team would love to help you buy a home. The process doesn’t have to be daunting. We will walk you through each step along the way. Contact us today about securing a pre-approved mortgage!

Happy Veterans Day! Today we honor those military men and women who have served and sacrificed everything to defend our country. To those of you who have served, and to those family members who have lost loved ones, we thank you. Since we’re thinking a lot about our veterans today, we thought we’d take some time to talk about something that affects them directly. Most people aren’t aware that certain home loan programs have been created to take care of our veterans. One example is a VA streamline refinance. Also known as an Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (or IRRRL), VA refinances are designed specifically for veterans and active military personnel who wish to refinance an existing VA loan. A VA streamline, like an FHA refinance, is perfect for those who are interested in lowering their mortgage payments without taking out any cash.

• No appraisal or underwriting package is required when applying.
• You’re not required to provide proof of income.
• The HUD doesn’t verify credit scores, though some circumstances may require the applicant to have a minimum credit score.
• You’re able to take advantage of lower interest rates.
• Lender credit is allowed to cover your closing costs.

• You must be current on your mortgage and have no more than one 30-day late payment within the past year.
• You cannot receive any cash from the refinance.
• You must have previously used your VA loan eligibility on the property you’re refinancing.
• If you’re refinancing from an existing VA ARM loan to a fixed-rate loan, your interest rate may increase.
• A reduced funding fee will be applied if you decide to refinance.

If you’ve never considered a VA loan or an IRRRL for yourself or a loved one who’s served our country, now’s the time to get the ball rolling. After all, it’s the least we can do to take care of those who have taken care of us. This has just been a primer on the options available to veterans. Our site is full of tools to help you in deciding how to refinance and lower your monthly mortgage payment. We’re here to make the process as easy as possible. Contact us and get started today!