How to Get a Mortgage.
How to Get a Mortgage By Ryan Oda (RA), MAT Getting prequalified with a lender is one of the first things you need to do in the home purchasing process. The prequalification process will determine how much you can afford. 1. Your Realtor is your lifeline. Before you shop around on your own, ask your Realtor if they have any recommendations. Most experienced Realtors have an established relationship with a handful of lenders. Often times, many brokerage firms, like Benn Pacific Group, have an in-house lender. As the consumer, you have the right to use any lender you want. Like choosing a Realtor, make sure the lender pick meets all your needs. 2. Have all your documents organized and ready. When you get prequalified, the lender will require you to provide your personal information, your residence history, employment history income, debt history, asset balances, and anything else deemed necessary. The more information you provide the more accurate your pre-qualification will be. They will also need to pull your credit report so it’s best that you do not obtain any new credit during your home buying process. 3. Choose a loan type and down payment amount. The type of loan you chose is correlated to how much cash you are putting down. A well versed loan officer will look at your situation uniquely. 20% down is the ideal number. However, if you have less than 20% down there is still hope. There are multiple products that your lender can discuss with you that don’t require the ideal down payment. 4. Start shopping for a home. Now that you got prequalified, your Realtor will pull listings that you can afford and arrange for you to view properties you are most interested in. 5. Once you have an accepted contract your lender will submit your loan application and send you a copy of the Good Faith Estimate. As this time you can choose to lock in your rate. Like the stock market, mortgage rates fluctuate daily too. Your lender will advise you what the market is doing daily so you can decide on what’s the best interest rate and points to lock in at. 6. Once you’ve accepted the lenders disclosures the lender will typically request for a deposit. The deposit is used to order the appraisal. The appraisal is then ordered and turned around within 5 business days. 7. The file is now ready for Underwriting! This is where the loan gets approved or denied. If you have a good loan officer who knows their guidelines inside and out, your loan should have no problem getting approved. When you receive your Conditional Loan Approval it’s now time to shop for Homeowners/Hurricane Insurance and go to closing. 8. Closing, this is the best part! Your Loan Officer and Realtor will meet you to sign your loan closing docs and the deed to your new home. It’s just days before you get the keys! Benn Pacific Group’s in-house lender is Holly Hino at Sandalwood HomeLoans. Feel free to contact her for more information and a loan qualification today. Holly A. Hino-Agustin NMLS #325967 Vice President/Loan Manager Sandalwood HomeLoans, LLC. (NMLS #332037) 1585 Kapiolani Blvd. Suite #1040 Honolulu, HI 96814 Phone: 808-599-0503 Efax: 808-675-5467 Email: hhino@sandalwoodhl.com www.sandalwoodhl.com
