Home Buying focus on your financial picture

HOME BUYER ADVISOR

 Information you need to find the best home and the best loan 

FOCUS YOUR FINANCIAL PICTURE

As soon as you have made the decision that you want to buy a house in Wisconsin, one of your first steps should be to make certain that you have a clear picture of your financial situation. At a minimum, you will most likely want to do the following:

• Run a Credit Report to make certain that there are no discrepancies in your credit history.

• Get everyone who will be involved in spending involved in developing a budget. Some of the items and info you will need to develop your budget are:

o All current monthly loan payments. All other monthly expenses (such as child care, dues, etc.).

o Records of variable expenses (such as utilities, food and car repair) from the last 12 months. This will give you an estimate of your monthly expenditures.

o Records of annual or semi-annual expenses (such as insurance and taxes).

o An estimate of what your new mortgage payment will be.

o Records of other non-fixed expenses (for example, medical expenditures) for the last year.

o Records or an estimate of personal expenses (entertainment, travel, etc.).

• Do an analysis of how a house purchase will affect your budget. Be sure to factor in not only mortgage payments (including insurance and taxes) but also funds for items such as repairs and maintenance.

• Begin to gather items such as: last 3 years’ Income Tax returns, current copies of pay stubs, records of any past derogatory credit history that has since been paid off, and records of any supplemental income you have. If you are self employed, you will need all business records and tax returns for the last 3 years. Having these items close at hand will save an enormous amount of time when your mortgage paperwork is being taken care of.

• If it is possible to do so without adversely affecting your down-payment situation, pay off minor debts. The less debt you have the easier your mortgage "sailing" will be.

• Do not incur any new debt. Since mortgages are based on debt to income ratios (the amount you pay out monthly versus the amount you bring in) a newly acquired debt could be enough to throw the ratios off and make the mortgage unobtainable.

If you would like more information on organizing your finances, please give me a call.

Oh, By the Way…whenever you come across people who are thinking about buying, selling or refinancing a home and would appreciate the same level of service I provide to you, please forward their name and telephone number to me. I will gladly follow up and offer them the high-quality service you currently receive!

Ron Meyer
GSF Mortgage Corporation
920-788-9608
920-213-0428 cell
rmeyer@gsf-mortgage.com
http://www.getapprovedfast.com/


© 2007 GSF/HBRC

Home Buyer Education in May

Free!! Home buyer & seller education.


The Fox Valley Coalition is offering a free workshop for Home Buyers and Sellers. The benefits of the workshops are:
Understanding the home buying and selling process
Free Credit Report
One-on-one credit review
Certificate which provides extra benefits and lending options
HUD Approved

Must attend both sessions to receive a completion certificate

When: Tuesdays May 24th & 31st
Time: 5:30-8:30 PM
Where: Oshkosh Public Library

Reserve your seat today. Space is limited

Homebuying Checklist

HOME BUYER ADVISOR

 Information you need to find the best home and the best loan 

HOMEBUYING CHECKLIST

There are probably few things in life that are as exciting -- or as nerve- racking -- as the search for a house. All the good emotions and the bad emotions seem to converge when the house hunting begins. Don't worry, this is a normal reaction and is found in seasoned home buyers as well as those who are looking for their first home.

With an organized house buying plan, you can minimize a great deal of the emotional impact. One of the most important things you can do is to make a checklist as you search for, find and buy a home. By keeping on top of your game-plan at all times you will greatly increase your chances of success. Refer to the following home buying checklist frequently and let it increase your house buying effectiveness. Many of these topics will be discussed more in-depth in upcoming articles.

 Get your financial picture in focus first! We can't stress this enough--it will save you an enormous amount of time, aggravation and heartache. Determine what your budget will comfortably allow and stick to it.

 Get pre-approved for a mortgage. This will not only give you a clear idea of how much a lender will approve for you, it will make your homebuying process a great deal easier (and save a lot of time later!).

 Familiarize yourself with the mortgage process.

 Choose an Agent that you feel comfortable with and who understands your needs. If you look for houses before you have your own Agent, you may not have the representation you want.

 Get familiar with the inspection process, especially the personal inspection aspect, so that you can weed out unacceptable houses quickly.

 Determine your minimum requirements for your needs and wants. Take note of any items that you don't want in a house. This can be just as important as knowing what it is you want in a home.

 Don't just buy a home for your present needs. Make sure to take into account future considerations.

 As you are looking, use a scorecard to compare homes. A scorecard is a great tool when it comes time for comparisons and for remembering which home had which features!

For more homebuying advice, please give me a call.

Oh, By the Way…whenever you come across people who are thinking about buying, selling or refinancing a home and would appreciate the same level of service I provide to you, please forward their name and telephone number to me. I will gladly follow up and offer them the high-quality service you currently receive!

Ron Meyer
GSF Mortgage Corporation
920-788-9608
920-213-0428 cell
rmeyer@gsf-mortgage.com
http://www.getapprovedfast.com/


© 2007 GSF/HBRC

Home Buyer Education Class HUD Approved

Free!! Home buyer & seller education.

The Fox Valley Coalition is offering a free workshop for Home Buyers and Sellers. The benefits of the workshops are:

Understanding the home buying and selling process
Free Credit Report
One-on-one credit review
Certificate which provides extra benefits and lending options
HUD Approved

Must attend both sessions to receive a completion certificate

When: Tuesdays April 19th & 26th
Time: 5:30-8:30 PM
Where: Menasha Goodwill

Reserve your seat today. Space is limited
Call 920-232-0859

Local city information

I am starting to create on my website individual city pages. I would love to hear your comments and input of what are some items to be included on each city page.

I have the following so far
Population
median age
median income
median home values
link to schools
link to homes for sale

Thanks

FHA, VA, and USDA loans would stop with Budget Impasse

Conventional Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans will still be available, but if the new budget plan is not passed Government lending will come to a halt including FHA and VA lending.

Here is a link to more information.
http://www.inman.com/news/2011/04/7/budget-impasse-threatens-fha-lending?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+inmannews+%28Inman+News+-+Headlines%29&utm_content

Unemployment lowest since March 2009

Unemployment dropped to 8.8% which is the lowest since March of 2009. 219,000 new jobs were created which beat the forecast of 195,000. Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the year.

Mortgage bonds are down a bit from yesterday causing lenders to raise interest rates late yesterday or today.