6 Tips on Shopping for a New Mortgage

When stepping into the world of home loans, mortgages, financing, refinances or home equity, you are entering territory that has put many a person in tears, left them frustrated and vowing to never consider leaving the safety of their apartment shopping again. If prepared for and navigated properly, the home mortgage process can be smooth, efficient, quick and relatively painless. If you proceed without doing your research or just on the fly because there's a nice property somewhere you saw that you wanted, you could be heading for disaster. Here's a collection of 6 home mortgage shopping and home finding tips to help you avoid the same mistakes that others have made before you:

1. Get your credit reports: Every day in this country people who are applying for loans find out bad news from their lender about their credit report that they didn't know themselves. Either an account they'd thought was settled has been reported as collections, their identity has been stolen, or some other errant information is on the report that doesn't belong there. Paying a lender's mortgage application fee is no way to go about finding out that there are serious problems with your credit that may stop you from getting a loan. Knowing your own credit reports inside and out as well as your credit score should be your first stop in shopping for a Utah House Loan
2. Fix any credit issues:Once you have your credit report, you should work to take care of any issues you find on it if possible. Pay off or negotiate away any collections accounts as they look terrible on your credit. Get your credit card balances low or paid off completely one month before you actually apply for your mortgage and whatever you do, avoid being late on any of your loan or debt payments.
3. Build up a substantial down payment: This is important because not only will it have the effect of lowering your overall monthly mortgage payment, it will also have the effect of showing the lender how serious you are about this loan. Having a 20% down payment today is impressive to say the least, and you are more likely to encourage a lender not only to loan you money but also to do it at great rates if you display your ability to save money in this manner.
4. Build up a small savings for closing costs: "How are you going to pay for closing costs?" It is a question asked by lenders to all potential mortgage borrowers and usually the answer is met with something like the idea of having the closing costs rolled into the loan. This is not a way to impress your lender. If you want to impress them and again, get them to give you the absolute best terms possible on a mortgage, have a couple thousand saved in a bank account that you have set aside specifically to handle your closing costs with cash.
5. Get mortgage quotes from multiple lenders: Going to one lender and taking whatever they offer you is also a huge mistake. Since you are already here at UTHouse.com, you have the advantage; by simply filling out the online form (recommend you complete the prior 4 steps first), you will instantly receive quotes from several lenders for a home mortgage. You can compare terms and features of the loans before making your decision.
6. Don't shop for all the house you can afford: Just because a lender pre-approves you for a $400,000 house doesn't mean you have to buy a $400,000 house. Their approval limit is just that - a limit. It is their years of banking wisdom suggesting that if you buy a $400,000 home you will be stretched to your maximum ability to repay. You should understand that to mean that a $400,000 house is likely to make you "house poor" and struggling to make your payments every month if your financial situation turns the slightest bit negative.