This is the second part in a blog series about home buying in Portland. Written by Oregon Broker, Shayna Denny, the series covers the steps home buyers need to take in order buy a house in the Portland Metro area.
Get a Pre-Approval Letter from a Mortgage Professional
You can submit an offer without a pre-approval letter from a mortgage professional. But, in this crazy housing market, you wouldn’t want to. Beyond price, the pre-approval letter is the biggest thing the sellers will want to see with an offer.
You could offer them the world, but they want to make sure you can pay for it. The listing agent may even want to speak with your loan officer or mortgage broker before accepting your offer. If you already have a relationship with your mortgage professional they can speak very highly for you. It can definitely give you an edge in this competitive market.
Beef up credit scores to get a better interest rate
In addition to having something to submit to the sellers, it’s good to start talking to a mortgage professional early on in the process. They may have suggestions of how you can beef up your credit score to get a better interest rate. There may be special programs that can assist people with buying a home.
They will also be able to tell you exactly how much you qualify for. They can also tell you what your monthly payments will be for different loan amounts with much greater accuracy than any online mortgage calculator.
Know your monthly payments in advance
Most importantly, if a mortgage professional has already looked over all of your financial information, you know exactly what your monthly payments will be, and you know how much cash you need to bring to closing. There won’t be any surprises. You don’t want to get to the homestretch and find out the numbers are drastically different than you anticipated!
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