More house questions:

[icebrat001]

Someone please tell me the steps and the process.

You get the loan, find the house and then you close?

How long does everything take? So we live in California and might move to Florida in July, like July 1st.

When should we begin the process?

Don't worry, we plan to seek advice from a consultant or something and read a couple of books beginning Jan 3rd.

 

[golfgal]

Our first house took us a year to find, our second house, with job transfer, took us a day to find, this house, just moving in town took us 6 years to find (but we were looking for the "perfect" house then in a very specific area). The process really depends on a lot of things. It will take longer for your first house because they go over your credit information more closely, plus if you have student loans, etc. it just takes longer for them to get the info back and forth. Plan on 2 months from the time the offer is accepted to closing date just to be safe. Closing dates are VERY negotiable.

 

[Otimon]

My suggestion would be to get yourself pre-approved for a loan before you begin looking for a home. Making sure you are qualified and approved for whatever amount will save everyone involved much time and effort.

How long it will take to find a home, when the closing will be, etc. will all depend on your particular situation.

Good luck to you.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

Have you seen your credit lately? If not, you may want to see about an in-file credit report to clear up anything that may be incorrect on your credit now. Of course, that will show up as an inquiry into your credit, which is easily explained.

Don't apply for any other credit between now and your home loan if you can avoid it.

Be sure you have all your savings for closing put into a place where they are easily accessed and verified. If you're planning on using money you've been hiding under a bed mattress or are getting from a parent, you need it in an account right now...not May or June of next year. Your bank will need to verify the average balance in this account over a period of time to show that you didn't steal or borrow the money to close.

You can always start looking several months in advance and request a closing date. Your first payment will be due on the first of the month between one and two months of your closing. For example, if you close on May 15th, your first payment will be due July 1st. If you close on June 1st, your payment will also be July 1st. The day of the month you close will affect your prepaid interest due at closing. This can work to your advantage if your seller is paying all closing costs, including your prepaids.

Good luck in your search. If you want to close in advance of moving there, I'd start some preliminary searches at the first of the year.

IM me if you need more help!

 

[icebrat001]

Have you seen your credit lately? If not, you may want to see about an in-file credit report to clear up anything that may be incorrect on your credit now. Of course, that will show up as an inquiry into your credit, which is easily explained.

IM me if you need more help!

We looked at the credit report 2 months ago. She has health insurance, however she was sick out of state and her insurance was supposed to take care of it but they forgot and when when saw it on the report we contacted everyone and the insurance took care of it, now it says paid off or something similar to that affect. I don't know if that's good or bad.

We plan to get a pre-approval at the beginning of the year. The loan is going in her name, long story, nonetheless, can I get added to the title or whatever the it's called? Or do we see an attorney and then have papers drawn up that we both own and pay on the house.

 

[jenks0718]

***Not legal advice***

Here in NJ you could be added to the title and not appear on the loan package. You would just tell your realtor to advise the title company to add your name to title and deed. There may be an additional fee involved. I am sure your significant other would be aware that since she would be the only one signing the note then she would be the only one finanically responsible for the loan, but you would own half the residence?

Also, If the medical bill was a charge off and then it was paid it will say Paid Chargeoff. Usually the mortgage company will request a reason for the bad debt in writing when they submit it to underwriting and you can explain the situation in detail.

To sum it up for you. You get a pre approval letter from a mortgage company (try to go with someone you have heard of and may know someone who dealt with them in the past), You contact an agent and give them your search criteria and begin touring homes, Find one you like and decide on an offer and a settlement date to request of the seller, the seller will in turn counter your offer or accept it and then you will go under contract for the sale, the mortgage company will begin processing you file and submit it to underwriting, during this time inspections will be done on the home, file comes out of underwriting and settlement time if schedule...YOUR A HOMEOWNER

When you decide what mortgage company you want to use ask them what different programs you are eligible for. Some have lower down payments then others and this can help you budget for that as well as closing costs.

GOOD LUCK

 

[ilovepcot]

Possibly coming here to FL? How exciting! I know you were talking about med school in the future. Is there a good school here you're interesed in?

 

[Aimeedyan]

We were preapproved when we went looking for homes. We were relocating as well and had 2 days to look for a house - we found it in day 1 (used realtor to help!). It was a new build and the builder wanted us to use their lender and offered great incentives - it was worth it, so we put down $500 earnest on the house and contacted the broker over the weekend. Faxed documents back and forth and we were approved, got great rates, etc. We closed 3.5 weeks later on the house.

Our realtor emailed me lots of listings and we narrowed it down before we headed up to look. That made it a lot easier. We knew exactly what we wanted and chose the best available house at the time - we knew 30 day escrow was standard so we started to look 2-3 weeks prior to that so we would be closing when we needed to. We ended up closing 2 weeks before we wanted to move but that was perfect because we were able to head up and paint rooms and have furniture delivered before.

 

[icebrat001]

Possibly coming here to FL? How exciting! I know you were talking about med school in the future. Is there a good school here you're interesed in?

Yep, few schools in mind, that in state tuition is GREAT even for med school!

We plan on moving to a Tampa suburb, are you familiar with any. Our towns crime score is 29 and we want to find something similar.

 

[icebrat001]

We were preapproved when we went looking for homes. We were relocating as well and had 2 days to look for a house - we found it in day 1 (used realtor to help!). It was a new build and the builder wanted us to use their lender and offered great incentives - it was worth it, so we put down $500 earnest on the house and contacted the broker over the weekend. Faxed documents back and forth and we were approved, got great rates, etc. We closed 3.5 weeks later on the house.

Our realtor emailed me lots of listings and we narrowed it down before we headed up to look. That made it a lot easier. We knew exactly what we wanted and chose the best available house at the time - we knew 30 day escrow was standard so we started to look 2-3 weeks prior to that so we would be closing when we needed to. We ended up closing 2 weeks before we wanted to move but that was perfect because we were able to head up and paint rooms and have furniture delivered before.

Did you have a far move? Did you purchase new furniture?

This is a 3000 mile move, scary. I'm afraid of the south, just because of things I've heard, but like anything, one must adjust.