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Home Buying
updated on 10 May 2007 |
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5 Steps to Buying a Home
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By Nina Sabangan |
Buying a home can be a complex process. The mortgage and real estate
industries, though 2 separate fields, go hand in hand in the
transaction of making the American dream a reality. My focus, and my
passion, is to get your started in this journey towards home
ownership in a neighborhood that you and your family will enjoy and
thrive in.
For this, the first in a series of columns, I would like to talk
about the typical steps to buying a home:
Pre-qualification
This is a thorough look at your credit and financial situation. Your
credit report is a reflection of how you have handled your
obligations in the past and lenders consider this as a good
indication of how you will handle your bills (specifically their
mortgage) in the future. Not everyone has perfect credit. Although
no one intends to have bad credit, many do not know how to go about
correcting the situation.
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In many cases, it is the lack of
credit that becomes a hindrance. I will guide you to a
clear focus on your credit and financial situation and
share with you practical and do-able steps to keep you
on the right track to maintaining your excellent credit
profile or to turning your credit picture around.
Together, we will develop techniques
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that will set you
up to achieve anything you set your mind to. Along the way, we
will celebrate small victories, learn from minor set backs and
strengthen your feeling of competence, confidence and
self-assurance in what you know and what you can achieve.
Picking the right mortgage
Finding the right loan and lender is crucial to your success in
buying a home. First, I will help you understand the different
types of loans and determine which loans are available to you. |
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Then,
together, we will do a comparison of rates, terms, closing costs and
payments to help you decide which loan best fits your needs and
situation. We will be discussing your goals to make sure that the
loan fits both your short and long term needs. We will also discuss
the many benefits of home ownership: appreciation, mortgage interest
deduction, property tax deduction, pride of ownership.
Pride of ownership gives you and your family a sense of stability
and security; it is making an investment in your future. My goal is
for you to have a thorough understanding of the mortgage process and
know what to expect every step of the way.
Finding the right home
Armed with the confidence that there are lenders out there that will
lend you money, we move on to finding a home. You understand the
parameters of your loan; you understand what the lender is looking
for from a borrower. The mortgage application comprises of getting
you approved as a borrower and getting the property approved as the
collateral.
Being a real estate agent I will lead you through this aspect of the
transaction.
It starts with what you want in a home. How many bedrooms, how big,
with a pool? Jacksonville and its surrounding areas offer a large
variety of properties available for sale. You may want an older
home, a brand new home, a condo, in a specific school district or
subdivision
Knowing how much you truly qualify for, I will send you e-mail's of
MLS properties available within your price range in the area you
want to live. You will get familiar with what's available, and if
you are interested in any of the homes, I do my initial research.
Among other things I figure out if the home is reasonably priced and
if the financing is a fit.
Likely, I will call the selling agent to ask open-ended questions to
get a feel for what direction the transaction would need to go.
Then, I schedule an appointment and we go see the house. You look at
the house and see the potential: how it will fit with your
lifestyle, how it will satisfy your needs, how it will look with
your own valuable possessions in there. You will picture yourself
and your family living in the home. I look at the house and
determine what kind of repairs, if any, need to happen, evidence of
termites, wood rot, etc. I make my notes to use as reference when I
compose the contract. I look at you and you are smiling. This is the
one! It is time to submit a contract.
Negotiating the real estate contract
The real estate contract is a legal document that conveys a buyer's
commitment to buy a home for sale and specifies the terms and
conditions of the offer. I translate your desires, your doubts, your
financial situation, your excitement, and your worries into the
wording in this legal document. I submit a reasonable contract.
Reasonable, by my definition, is a win-win situation. You, the buyer
want to get the best deal but the seller also wants to get the best
price and terms. We meet somewhere in the middle and agree on price
and terms that will be acceptable to both parties and more
importantly, will comply with your mortgage application.
Closing your loan
Now, we have a signed, agreed upon contract, you have provided me
most of the documents the lender needs from you to issue a
conditional approval (pay stubs, W-2's, bank statements, etc.).
Together we discuss the mortgage application and all the paperwork
involved with the application. These include: a Good Faith Estimate,
A Truth in Lending statement, Disclosures, etc.
At this point these documents will be familiar to you because you
will see in writing what we have been talking about all along. We
will discuss each piece of paper that you sign and I will answer all
the questions that you have. Once the appraisal, inspections, title
work and survey have been done and approved by the lender, we
schedule the closing with an attorney. During the closing, ownership
is transferred to you and you now own a piece of the American dream,
your own home.
As a mortgage broker and real estate agent, I will guide you through
both transactions. I will make sure that you have the knowledge and
understanding of all your options to make a decision that is right
for YOU.
Most of all, I understand the hurdles and sacrifices most
of us have made to make America our home. I have been there …and I
will be there for you!
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NINA SABANGAN
 is an experienced mortgage and real
estate professional who has been in the business for more than 6
years. A native of Marikina, Philippines, she has made Florida her
home. She lives in Ponte Vedra Beach with her husband, also a real
estate and mortgage professional and her 2 sons. She would like to
set in motion a unified Filipino community in the Jacksonville area
and is planning to establish a website as a virtual watering hole
for Filipinos, professional and otherwise. You can reach her at
(904) 662-0971 for your mortgage and real estate needs. You can also
call her if you are a local professional or business owner
interested in being a part of "Kayamanan," her Filipino professional
and cultural website in the works.
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