Two major items home buyers need to think about before contacting a realtor

Many people find it useful to have a checklist and on any good checklist these 2 items should be the first items on that list. as they are essential to getting the ball rolling on your dream of home ownership.

The 2 major items a potential home shopper needs to begin to think about before contacting a realtor is to:

1. Determine how your credit looks

Luckily in this computer age there are many ways for us to easily and quickly check our credit ad credit scores. There are multiple sites out there to check your credit for free.

Two that we like are www.freecreditreport.com and www.creditkarma.com . If you have a credit score below 640 you may want to dive deeper into your report to see if there are opportunities to increase that score. Ways to that would be by dispute errors if there are any with the credit bureaus, make sure you are current with all monthly payments, and reduce debt where possible. However, many lenders have loan programs to accomodate lower credit scores some as low as 580. It’s always a good idea to contact a Loan Officer who is knowledgable about credit scores and various loan programs.

2. Get a pre-approval from a mortgage professional.

Once you’re more serious and ready to start your home buying or refinance journey, contact a mortgage professional and work on a pre-approval. But don’t just pick any mortgage professional as they are not all created equal. Do your research so that you can feel confident that the person you pick is knowledgeable and will take care of you as if they were buying their own home. Happy shopping!!!

If you have any questions about either of these items, please Contact Us today. We are happy to answer any questions.