Ready to buy a new Florida home, but fear you might not withstand a mortgage lender’s scrutiny? You might surprised. Regardless of economic climates, mortgage prospects exist for home buyers of all economic stripes. That’s because in everyday life, lenders exhibit more elasticity with financial home-buying requirements than you might think. The key? Don’t take hearsay about current mortgage trends for granted, whether it originates from office gossip, media, social media or our friend Google. Here are a few real-world tips for sizing up your mortgage potential.
First, You Need a Decent Credit Score
Must it be perfect? No. Few of us have that. A credit score is a three-digit number generated by each of the three main credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — which compile those scores (possibly different from each bureau) via credit-scoring models (trust us, no math lessons here). The fuel for those models is your financial history — how you pay bills, use lines of credit and how many lines of credit you have, among other data, none personal.
Credit scores range from 300 to 850. A 300 score is rotten. An 850 score is awesome. A mid-to-upper 700s score is considered excellent. But, if your three credit scores hover in the low 600s, they’re not mortgage-breakers. Particularly if…
You Have a Stable Income
No matter what you do for a living, you must prove that you can meet monthly bills and other financial obligations that require sources of steady income. You must have done this for the past two or three years before applying for a mortgage, to establish income history. All of this helps…
You Demonstrate the Long-Term Ability to Make Monthly Payments
Because that’s what you’ll do with a mortgage for either 15 or 30 years. You’ll pay a monthly sum determined by your mortgage terms. Your monthly mortgage payment is influenced by whether…
You Make a Solid Down Payment
The down payment is the first payment on your new home. It’s paid during the closing process, during which you must sign formal documents to enact your mortgage. You’ll know the down-payment amount ahead of time. It’s negotiated as part of the mortgage application process and is a percent of the cost of your home. Although today’s industry ideal is 20 percent, most lenders won’t balk at as little as 5 percent, especially if you have decent credit, solid income and recent income history, plus, you have the long-term ability to make monthly payments. A 5 percent down payment for a $175,000 mortgage would be $8,750.
Whew! No longer scared about applying for that mortgage? Once you’re ready, ICI Homes can help you find your new home. Talk to us here.
