The process of buying a home always involves several professionals, quite a bit of documentation, and more than a little online research.
Did you know you can save time, hassle, and maybe even a little homeowner heartbreak by calling your Castle & Cooke Mortgage loan officer first?
You’ve saved up, have a steady income, and you’re finally ready to put down roots and buy your first home! Your first call with your loan officer will start with a discussion of your goals for homeownership and an analysis of your financial profile.
From there, you’ll talk about mortgage types that might be suitable for your situation, any potential co-borrowers, your down payment amount, and your FICO score.
At this stage, you won’t be required to provide any documentation. But the more familiar you are with your finances, the better off you’ll be.
Learn about questions you should ask on that first call.
If all goes well on that first call, the next step is mortgage pre-qualification. Your loan officer will enter information into our state-of-the-art system, and you’ll receive what is known as a pre-qualification letter.
This letter will include the loan type, loan amount, and a short description of what pre-qualification means. But it’s most important feature? A price range for your new home!
Once you know how much you can afford, you’ll be ready to start your home search in earnest. In fact, many real estate agents won’t start showing you homes until you can prove you're serious with a pre-qualification letter from a trusted mortgage lender.
Sellers will also want to see your pre-qualification letter when you put in an offer (especially when housing inventory is low and they have multiple offers to choose from).
Learn how to find a good real estate agent.
Some first-time homeowners worry that talking with a lender too early in the process will lock them into decisions they’re not ready to make, but nothing could be further from the truth!
It’s still perfectly fine to shop for rates and terms from other lenders without hurting your credit score, as long as you keep all inquiries within a 45-day period. You could even ask your loan officer to keep exploring loan types while you shop in case there’s a better fit for the property you’ve chosen.
You could even let the pre-qualification expire (a process that will occur automatically if you don’t take action within about three months).
If you do move forward, you'll need to provide additional documentation. From there, you'll get a Loan Estimate with specifics about interest rate, loan type, payments, and APR.
Learn about the steps in the mortgage process.
A mortgage pre-qualification does not imply any obligation on your part, but it can be key to finding the right home and getting your offer accepted. So when you’re ready to buy your first home, who you gonna call?
Start with your Castle & Cooke Mortgage loan officer.