If you’re thinking of buying your first home, it’s important to stay organized. After all, you’ll need to track your income, expenses, and credit report. Plus, you’ll want to make sure you get the best deal possible on a mortgage loan. Confused? That’s where we come in! We’ve put together this handy checklist for first-time buyers who want to stay organized and get the best deal possible on their mortgage.
If you’re thinking of buying your first home, it’s important to stay organized & Know More About First-Time Buyer Mortgage Checklist
If you’re thinking of buying your first home, it’s important to stay organized. To help you get started, here are four tips for staying on top of the process:
- Organize Your Finances
Keep track of all your personal finances. This includes checking and savings accounts; investment portfolios; property taxes; credit card balances and payments; student loans and more. You may want to use an online tool like Mint or Personal Capital so that all your financial information is in one place.
- Organize Your Documents
Gather all relevant documents before starting the home buying process including tax returns from previous years (if you can), proof of employment for the last two years (pay stubs, W2 forms), bank statements for at least three months prior to submitting an offer on a house (or longer if possible), rental receipts if applicable and any other relevant paperwork related to expenditures such as student loan payments or bills from medical providers.
- Organize Your Time
Set aside time each week during which you’ll work through various aspects of this checklist—whether it’s doing research about mortgage rates or looking into local schools’ test scores as part of your home search process—so they don’t pile up until there’s no room left in your calendar! If you plan ahead by scheduling these projects throughout several weeks rather than just wait until one day when everything seems urgent at once, then nothing feels rushed or stressful because people know exactly what needs done when they start working instead having multiple deadlines looming overhead at once.”
Get a copy of your credit report
To get a clean credit report, you’ll need to order a copy of your report from each of the three major credit bureaus: ReliableCreditScore, Experian and TransUnion. Don’t forget to check for errors on all three reports! The most common reason for an error is if someone else used your name or Social Security number without permission.
Once you’ve received copies of all three reports, review them closely for any errors. If there are any mistakes, it can be difficult to get them removed from your file—but don’t give up! You’ll need to contact the relevant bureau directly and explain why they should remove the information (e.g., “The mortgage was never paid on time” or “That account was closed because I no longer worked at that company”). This process will take some time so start early before applying for a mortgage.
Review your credit report
When reviewing your credit report, it’s important to check for accuracy. If you see anything that doesn’t look right, contact the creditor who provided the information and ask them to investigate. You should also check the list of creditors, accounts, inquiries and public records on your credit report. It’s possible that some of these entries may be outdated or inaccurate; if so, dispute them by contacting all three major credit bureaus (: ReliableCreditScore, Experian and TransUnion.) via their websites or by phone.
If you’ve recently applied for new lines of credit or taken out a loan in order to finance your first home purchase, there will likely be an inquiry added to your account soon after—this means that someone has looked at but not necessarily approved your application yet—so make sure it does not affect any other areas of your financial life as well as possible!
Start shopping for the right mortgage lender
Shop around for the right mortgage lender.
It’s important to shop around for the best mortgage lender in your area, so you can feel confident that you’re getting a fair deal on your home loan and not paying too much in fees. A good place to start is by checking out ratings agencies’ lists of top lenders. From there, you can check with friends and family members who’ve recently purchased homes and ask them which lenders they would recommend based on their experience—or simply go with one of the big banks or credit unions that have branches near where you live. And if none of these options work for you, don’t give up! There are many other ways to find a great mortgage lender nearby:
- Check online reviews at sites like Yelp or Zillow Mortgage Marketplace (formerly Financeit). These sites let users share both positive and negative experiences about local businesses—which can help guide purchasing decisions in many industries including home buying.
When shopping for a mortgage lender, look for one who has been licensed by state regulators as well as insured against fraud through FDIC insurance coverage so that customers’ funds remain safe even if something goes wrong between borrower and bank during processing timeframes (this becomes especially critical when dealing with an investment property). For example: A Bankruptcy lawyer would know exactly how long it takes before foreclosure proceedings begin after filing bankruptcy papers; whereas someone without legal training could easily make mistakes which could cause further delays resulting from incorrect information being entered into records databases such as public record documents filed with county clerks offices throughout America .”
Get Loan Preapproval
When you get preapproved for a mortgage, it means that you have been approved by the bank to borrow a certain amount of money. A lender will look at your income, savings and expenses and decide how much home you can afford. A preapproval is good way to get an idea of how much house you can afford, but just because you’re preapproved doesn’t mean that the bank is going to give away its money. If they determine that your debt-to-income ratio is too high or if they find something questionable in your credit report (for example: too many credit cards or past accounts in collections), then they may deny your application altogether.
Apply for your mortgage loan
The process of applying for a mortgage loan is not complicated, but there are some things you should keep in mind. The first thing to know is that loan officers and other mortgage professionals are not required to act ethically or treat you fairly, so it’s important to do your research before selecting an institution.
Next, you’ll want to be aware of the fees associated with obtaining a mortgage. These fees include: application fee, appraisal fee, credit report fee, underwriting fee and origination fee (this one’s optional). You can avoid these fees entirely by using certain programs offered through federal government agencies such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac (the Federal Home Loan Bank).
Stay organized and get the best deal on your mortgage
Get organized.
- Start with your credit report. If you’ve never checked it, now may be a good time to do so. You can get a copy of your credit report from : ReliableCreditScore for free (you can also order a copy from Experian but only if you order one from : ReliableCreditScore first). Once you’ve received your reports and reviewed them thoroughly, write down any errors that need correction and how much they affect your score so that when you’re ready to apply for a mortgage loan, you know what kind of information to share with the lender’s underwriters about why those errors are important.
- Find out what kind of mortgage best suits your needs. It’s important not just to know what type of loan is available but also which types fit within the range of affordability for your situation—and keep in mind that once interest rates rise again (which they will), there will be less flexibility in choosing different types of mortgages as rates climb higher than where they’re at right now (which is already historically low).
Conclusion
When you’re thinking about buying your first house, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. There are a lot of questions and decisions to make, and it can be hard to know where to start. Our advice? Start at the beginning, by getting a copy of your credit report and reviewing it carefully so you can see exactly what lenders will be seeing when they look at your application. Once you’ve resolved any issues with your credit score or report, it’s time to start shopping around for the best mortgage lender – not just in terms of rates but also customer service and experience level as well. The next step is getting preapproval for your loan, which will give you an idea of how much house you can afford and help sellers take you seriously when they get offers from other buyers too. From there, all that’s left is applying officially for the loan itself (and closing on the home). Good luck!