Don't Trip Yourself up While Buying your Home

What's more fun than buying a bunch of new furniture to adorn your future home? Not much. But making big ticket purchases before closing could be trouble. There still remain a few major hurdles to jump before the house is realy yours. Below you'll find a list of things to avoid during this crucial time of your home purchase.

Don't make expensive purchases. Although you will be listing ways to turn your new home into a showplace, avoid big ticket purchases like appliances, electronics, or furniture. We also recommend that you avoid vacations and vehicle purchases until the closing of your loan. Your credit numbers could change suddenly if you purchase new furniture using credit cards. It's even a mistake to make those large purchases using cash. Lenders are looking at your cash reserve when considering your loan.

Don't look for a new career. Consistency in your work history is a positive thing to lending institutions. Changing jobs may not compromise your ability to qualify for a loan - especially if you are getting a better salary. But for some people, getting a new career during the mortgage application process may bring concern and stymie your approval.

Don't switch banks or move money around in your accounts. Bank statements from the last few months for all of your accounts (savings, checking, money market, and others) will probably be reviewed as the lender makes decisions regarding your mortgage application. Your lending institution looks for a consistent rise and fall of your funds over the pay period, in order to rule out fraud. No matter the purpose, changing banks or moving funds from one account to another might raise a red flag with your lender and impede your approval process.

Don't give your FSBO (for sale by owner) seller earnest money, cash in hand. Your good faith money does not belong to the seller: it remains yours until the sale closes. Some FSBO sellers may not realize that your good faith money is to be used for your expenses upon closing. We recommend that you put the funds into a trust account, or get an attorney to hold them until closing. Should your sale fall through, the contract with the seller should specify where your earnest money should go.

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