first time home buyer

[MKCP5]

Okay, who among you works in the mortgage industry or in finance? We are buying our first home, have great credit, and some money (not alot) to put down on the house, DS is older and generous so she is giving us another chunk to put down. The rate we were quoted through the mortage guy First horizon) is 6.375% I know compared to a few years ago that is good, but we were disappointed as we thought we would get a better rate as a first time buyer. It is a FHA loan and he said it is a little higher b/c so much of our down payment is coming as a gift. It it were all our $$ it would probably be about 6.250. Does this sound right to you guys? I am unsure about having another company do an application etc b/c I've been told that it lowers your credit score every time they do a hard credit pull like that. Advice please!! TIA!!!

 

[bellarella]

You don't need to have a mortgage company do a hard pull on your credit to give you a general idea of what the rate will be. If you give them all the information they should be able to give you the rate, they just can't guarantee it until they pull your credit to make sure you've told the truth on everything. I also believe that there is a window in which hard pulls won't affect your credit rating (all of them within a certain period of time count as one if they are all mortgage brokers).

I would go to bankrate.com and you local paper and see what rates are. Also call some local credit unions. Ask friends who have recently purchased homes who they used.

If you don't have enough for 20% down also ask about different forms of financing. You can do one non-conforming loan (more than 80% of your purchase price), which will stick you with PMI. Or you can do a second mortgage (either and 80/20 split or a 90/10/10). This will give you a higher interest rate on the second mortgage, but sometimes a lower one on the first and no PMI, so it can come out lower in the monthly payments.

Good luck!

 

[Lisa_M]

when we were looking at mortages in july, the quote for an FHA was right around 6.5% You should check out creditboards.com In the mortage forum there are like 10 mortgage brokers. They would know for certain what the FHA rate is now.

 

[Bren's Mom]

I agree with pp...definitely repost this at creditboards in the mortgage section. They'll be able to give you a better idea if that's a good deal or not!

 

[goofyforlife]

Don't feel trapped by your first mortgage offer either....

Every broker will have access to different programs....

and it does NOT effect your credit if different brokers pull your credit within a short time period because the credit buraeus know it's for they same kind of loan. (ie mortgage)

We shopped around before we settled on a loan...

I'm glad we did...

One broker only offered us loans with mortgage insurance and adjustable rates.

We shopped around and found a company with a first time buyer program that had fixed rates, a 90/10 loan, and NO mortage insurance....BONUS

i did have a few offers for adjustable rates too but it was just too risky and we weren't sure how long we wanted to stay in this house.... Most adjustable change after 3 or 5 years but it was too hard to guess at two years ago when we purchased.

 

[MKCP5]

thanks guys. I will post on the other board

 

[ducklite]

Okay, who among you works in the mortgage industry or in finance? We are buying our first home, have great credit, and some money (not alot) to put down on the house, DS is older and generous so she is giving us another chunk to put down. The rate we were quoted through the mortage guy First horizon) is 6.375% I know compared to a few years ago that is good, but we were disappointed as we thought we would get a better rate as a first time buyer. It is a FHA loan and he said it is a little higher b/c so much of our down payment is coming as a gift. It it were all our $$ it would probably be about 6.250. Does this sound right to you guys?

I used to write FHA loans, that's utter BS. FHA doesn't give two hoots where the money is coming from. If those are 30 year fixed rates, you're actually doing pretty well. The only first time buyer rates are through your state/county, not FHA, and are often income restricted. FHA rates are generally higher than conventional rates by up to 2%!

I am unsure about having another company do an application etc b/c I've been told that it lowers your credit score every time they do a hard credit pull like that. Advice please!! TIA!!!

An credit pulled by a mortgage lender within 30 days of each other is considered shopping for a loan and won't impact you. Additionally FHA doens't really look that hard at credit scores, as long as you've paid your bills on time.

Anne

 

[Gillian]

Do you have to do FHA? It's kind of a pain in the neck for some other reasons.

I'd talk to some other mortgage people, and make sure you compare the fees closely, not just the rates.

 

[MKCP5]

no, we don't have to do FHA but the mortgage guy said it will save us over other loans because the PMI will be lower. A flat fee of about 91.00 a month I think. We live in a very expensive part of the country and unfortunately saving $60K to avoid PMI was just not possible!!

Ok, I can't find the mortgage/finances board either. Where is it?

 

[mhf]

Please don't think you need to pay PMI. There are lots of other types of loans out there that are more friendly.

For example, the 90/10/10 mortgage mentioned above is a neat deal, we had one until we paid off that 10.

Check some of the websites of the major banks and look for first time home buyer programs in their mortgage section. Then call the mortgage department directly, rather than the local branch. Usually the 800 # is listed on the web.

Melissa