Six Helpful Tips To Help Save First-time Kalamazoo Home Buyers Big Money

 With interest rates hovering around their thirty year lows, a multitude of flexible and low cost loan programs are available, as well as a wide variety of assistance programs that can help virtually anybody experience the joy of home ownership.

In short, the economic environment simply couldn’t be better to buy your first home in the Kalamazoo area.  However, if you have always been a renter, then you probably aren’t as well informed of the intimate processes of obtaining a home mortgage as you’d like to be.

To guide you through this exciting but often confusing time, this report details six tips that will help make your purchase a much smoother experience, save you money and eliminate your anxieties.

Get Pre-qualified Before Starting Your Search

Before you begin searching for Kalamazoo homes.  Before you make one single decision regarding a home purchase, get pre-qualified by a mortgage professional.  If you care to contact me, I'll be happy to give you names and phone numbers of mortgage people with whom I've worked successfully.

Pre-qualification is free and will give you a definite advantage in the process of buying Kalamazoo homes.

During the evaluation stage, it will clarify your financial situation, indicating how much home you can afford. This may influence your decision for location, narrowing your search.

You’ll also know exactly how much home you can afford, further clarifying your search. Pre-qualification will also give you a step up on your competition.

Buyers of Kalamazoo homes for sale that are pre-qualified have increased leverage with Kalamazoo Realtors and sellers, and over buyers who are not.

Don’t Become Fixated On The Interest Rate Alone!

Be careful! The lowest interest rate does not always translate to the best deal. Look at the loan programs that are being offered, not just the rate.

There are several factors that have to be taken into account when evaluating programs: the loan type (fixed or adjustable), the loan term (15 year or 30 year), the rate and the down payment requirement, and of course closing costs.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage’s (ARM’s) are typically very low at the beginning but can escalate quickly.

These are good for short-term purchases, but long-term mortgage holders are typically better off with a fixed rate.

If you can afford it, you may consider a fifteen-year fixed rate mortgage.

Typically the monthly payments are only 20% higher, and you cut off half the duration of your loan. Additionally, your credit will play a big part in what program will be offered to you. "A" paper, lender lingo for an applicant who has perfect credit, may find a 6.5% rate with only 10% down. But if you have some credit history problems, sometimes referred to as "B" or "C" paper, you may find that to receive the prime rate, you need 20% down. So shop around!

Clean Up Your Credit

By getting pre-qualified, you will be made aware of any potential credit problems in your credit history. Don’t despair if the credit report is not stellar.

Even if an incident cannot be taken off the report, by knowing the background of your financial history, your lender may be able to put your financial situation in a better light when submitting the actual loan application.

Review your credit report carefully. It is very common for non-payments to be listed that are not even yours. Your mortgage professional will help you address problems showing up on the credit report.

Many times, a simple letter to the creditor explaining the circumstances at the time of the incident will rectify the situation. However this may take a few months, so start early.

Get A Realtor®

As a first time home-buyer in the Kalamazoo MI area, the biggest mistake you can make is believing that you can save money if you do not use a Realtor.

Get a real estate agent that represents your interests solely. A buyer agent will make sure the home is inspected properly, do diligence on any hidden discovery and more times than not, the money they save you on negotiating the price of your new home will more than off-set any reduction in price due to the commissions not being paid by the seller.

What Do You Want In Your New Kalamazoo Area Home?

There will be many decisions as you start this process. Kalamazoo Realtors will take you to several different Kalamazoo homes for sale. Some you will like; some you won’t, but most will land somewhere in between.

"You love this home except it doesn’t have…"

or

"That home would be perfect if it only had…"

 will be common phrases during this process.

Decide now what features you feel are "necessities" in a home and which features are items that would be "nice to have." This list will no doubt change the farther along you go, but the list will be extremely useful as you begin to look at homes. It will also be useful to the Realtor so he can better qualify the homes that he shows you.

There is a lot of free information available to you about buying, selling or investing in Kalamazoo real estate. For complete information about the Kalamazoo real estate market including current Kalamazoo homes for sale, property values and more please visit the most complete website online dedicated to everything about Kalamazoo homes, http://HomesofSWMichigan.com  So please feel free to contact me with any of your Kalamazoo real estate or mortgage questions and I will be more than glad to answer your questions. Call me on my cell at 269-760-1558 or email me at JoelNelson@KW.com

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 Tags: Kalamazoo real estate, kalamazoo homes, kalamazoo homes for sale, Joel Nelson

Article's Author

Joel Nelson
Keller Williams Realty - Kalamazoo
Kalamazoo, MI

Contact Joel Nelson