Don't Trip Yourself up While Buying a New Home

With the thrill that comes with an accepted offer and a "yes" from the lender, many homebuyers make the mistake of carrying their enthusiasm straight to the mall or furniture store. Until the keys are handed over, there are still some hoops to jump through. Below you'll find a list of actions to avoid during this crucial time of your home purchase.

Don't throw your money around. It may be tempting to order that new couch for the soon-to-be-yours parlor, but it's best to avoid making big ticket buys like furniture, appliances, jewelry, or cars until closing. You may send up red flags with your lender if you buy new electronics on your credit cards in the middle of your loan process. Because lenders are examining your bank accounts, a large cash purchase is also a mistake.

Don't get a new job. Your recent job history should show stability. Finding a new job (particularly one with a bump in salary) may not affect your ability to qualify for a mortgage loan. But for some people, changing jobs during the loan approval process could raise concern and stymie your approval.

Don't change banks or move finances around in your accounts. As your lender reviews your mortgage loan package, you will probably be instructed to produce bank statements for the last few months on your checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and other liquid assets. Your lending institution looks for a consistent rise and fall of your money each month, in order to avoid fraud. No matter the reason, moving banks or moving funds from one account to another could raise a red flag with the lender and slow your loan process.

Don't deliver a "good faith" deposit directly to the seller in a FSBO (for sale by owner) purchase. Until the sale is complete, the good faith deposit actually belongs to you. Some FSBO sellers might not know that these good faith funds is to go toward your expenses upon closing. A neutral party, like an attorney can hold onto your earnest money, or you may put it temporarily into a trust account until you close. If your home purchase fails, your purchase contract should indicate where the earnest money should go.

Metro Mortgage can walk you through the pitfalls of getting a mortgage. Call us at 4054054054.