Getting pre approved for mortgage - AVRUS | Avrus Financial & Mortgage Services, Inc. ℠

November 9, 2016

How Do I Sell My Home While Buying a New One?

Good question! Everyone would like life to fall neatly into place, and in the best of all possible worlds, you’ll sell your home and then, when that’s done, go through the process of looking for a new one.

But as we all know, life doesn’t always conform to the best-possible scenario, and you might find yourself in the position of doing both at once. But can it be done?

There are definitely challenges to getting a mortgage when you already own a property that you’re trying to sell. Generally your income can take care of one mortgage payment, not two simultaneous ones, so you’ll need to explain to your mortgage professional what your situation is—that you already own a home that’s for sale—when you apply for preapproval for your new mortgage. Your mortgage professional will calculate a projected debt-to-income ratio so you can still prequalify for the new home.

Temporary housing (typically in a hotel) is expensive, so ask your mortgage professional to recommend a real estate agent in your new location. Making sure that person understands that your goal is to reduce the gap between the two homes is important.

Once your house sells, the general rule of thumb is that you’ll be released from ownership within two weeks. If you’ve been preapproved for your new mortgage, however, you can ask the seller of your new home to release ownership to you at the same time that you release ownership of your old home to its new buyer. The advantage here is to free up your debt-to-income ration and to save you money.

Buying and selling houses at the same time brings its own unique set of challenges. At Avrus Financial and Mortgage, we’ve helped hundreds of families and individuals obtain preapproval under challenging circumstances, and we can help you.

Why not ask us how… today?

November 3, 2016

What Happens After I Apply for a Mortgage Loan?

Congratulations: along with your representative from Avrus Financial and Mortgage, you’ve worked your way successfully through the maze of documents necessary for your mortgage application. It was a lot of work, and now you’re probably feeling a sense of relief. And anticipation. You’re ready! What happens now?

Mostly what happens now is that you wait. Once you’ve completed the loan application, it will be processed by the loan underwriting department of the lender we’ve chosen together. All mortgage loans undergo close scrutiny (not like the bad old days before the housing crash), so the only thing you can do now is be patient. The reality is that this process can take up to 20 business days as all of the documentation submitted is scrutinized.

Sometimes the underwriters will find something in your application that needs further explanation or elaboration. It doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a red flag, just that they need more information. Generally at Avrus Financial and Mortgage we’re able to see what these items are before we submit your application, so that we’re the ones requiring further documentation, but sometimes it’s something that the specific loan originator wants to know.

Underwriters can ask for explanations of a myriad of things: overdraft alerts, missed payments, employment gaps on tax returns, unusually large deposits in accounts, and so on.

What happens then is that you’ll be asked to provide a letter of explanation that elaborates on the issue raised. You want to take this letter seriously and provide as much detail as possible; if you do not, it could be cause for your loan application to be denied. Date every incident and explain exactly what happened in that situation and why it happened. If you can attach any supporting documentation (for example, court documents, medical records, or notes from an employer) it will be helpful.

Most of the time, however, just being patient is the key!

At Avrus Financial and Mortgage, we’ve helped thousands of people answer questions just like these and get the California, Florida, or Georgia mortgage they deserve, and we can help you, too.

Why not ask us how… today?

September 29, 2016

The 6 Cardinal Sins of Mortgage Applications

Once in a while, someone calls us or walks through our door and says, “I got turned down for a mortgage. I don’t understand it. I think I’m a good risk.” So we sit down and talk with them, and it turns out that maybe they could get a mortgage—if they prepared properly for it and knew what to expect.

That’s why it’s a great idea to start getting organized even before you’re ready to actually apply for the mortgage. We can help with planning out your mortgage application so that when banks say no, Avrus can say yes.

Here are six things that we see people do that make their mortgage applications more difficult to process successfully:

Not knowing their credit scores. The very first number that a lender will check is your credit score: it determines, first, whether or not you can qualify for a mortgage loan, and second, what mortgage interest rate you’ll qualify for. Make sure that you know what yours is going into the process.
Not getting preapproved before looking at houses. Some real estate agents will require a prequalification or preapproval before they’ll even show you property: if you do the process ahead of time they can show you the homes that you can afford and will keep you from falling in love with a house that’s beyond your means.
Not understanding all the financial obligations involved. The amount of money you’re borrowing will include property taxes and insurance premiums. Depending on where your house is located, property taxes in particular can be significant and will affect the total amount of your mortgage as well as your monthly payments.
Assuming that they’ll get a certain interest rate. Interest rates vary daily and according to location, and they can change significantly between when you first started thinking about taking out a loan and the day of the closing on your new home. Make sure that you lock in your mortgage interest rate—and have that fact in writing.
Taking on a significant loan. This isn’t the time to buy a new car. You’re applying for the most significant loan of your life; don’t double-down with a second significant loan at the same time. If you apply for a new-car loan at the same time that you apply for a mortgage, the loan will affect your credit score and may lose your mortgage rate—or even the mortgage itself!
Not telling your mortgage broker everything. The reality is that everything you do, financially, is visible to your mortgage specialist and to your potential lenders. If you attempt to hide something, the only person you’re fooling is yourself.

These are considerations that aren’t necessarily obvious to people applying for a mortgage for the first time, but they are dangerous for all of that; they can means the difference between getting a great mortgage rate or simply an “okay” rate—or, indeed, between getting a mortgage and not getting one! Talk to your mortgage specialist to learn more about how to make the preapproval process go smoothly for you

At Avrus Financial and Mortgage, we’re ready to help you navigate the mortgage process and find you the right mortgage for your specific needs.

Why not ask us how… today?