Don't Trip Yourself up While Buying your Home

Some new homebuyers make the mistake of rushing out to buy things to fill their home as soon as the seller accepts their offer and the lender approves the loan. Keep in mind that until closing, your lender is watching you very closely. Below you'll find a list of actions to stay away from during this critical time of your home purchase.

Don't make expensive purchases. Although you will be listing ways to turn your new home into a castle, avoid major purchases like appliances, electronics, or furniture. You will also want to avoid vacations and vehicle purchases until the closing of your loan. Your credit numbers could be altered suddenly if you make a huge purchase using credit cards. Since lenders are examining your bank accounts, a large cash purchase is also not advised.

Don't get a new career. Your recent work history should show consistency. Changing jobs may not jeopardize your ability to qualify for a loan - especially if you are going to be making more money. But in some cases, changing jobs during the mortgage loan application process could raise concern and affect your approval.

Don't move money around or switch banks. Your lender will ask for recent bank statements on accounts in your name: checking, savings, money market, and other assets. Your lending institution is looking for a consistent rise and fall of your money over the month, in order to rule out fraud. Switching banks or moving money elsewhere - for whatever reason - could make it difficult for your lender to verify your funds.

Don't deliver a "good faith" deposit directly to the seller in a FSBO (for sale by owner) purchase. Your good faith deposit does not belong to the seller: it is actually yours until closing. Although your seller might not realize this, any good faith funds must be applied to your closing expenses. Get an attorney or other neutral party who can hang on to the funds or place them in a trust account until you close. If your sale falls through, your purchase contract should indicate where the earnest money should go.

Mortgage Headquarters of Missouri, Inc can answer questions about these "Don'ts" and many others. Call us at 5733029990.