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3 Questions to Ask Before You Buy Your First Home Hunting for your new home can be a confusing process. There are countless factors you need to take into account to ensure your new location fits your family’s lifestyle and preferences. In their excitement, first-time home buyers can easily overlook some essential points about their potential property.

When you’re searching for your new residence, ask these questions to get exactly what you’re looking for.

Am I Financially Ready For A New Home Purchase?

It takes more than money to find the right home. Your credit rating is an important factor in your ability to secure enough funding to finance your dream. Check out your credit score before you buy to make sure you won’t have to settle for less.

Some of the things you have the greatest control over include:

Payment history
Credit utilization ratio
Debt-to-income ratio

Even with a large down payment, having a questionable credit history can endanger your chances of qualifying for mortgage loans. Spend some time shining up your credit report for the best results. Getting a pre-approved home loan is a great way to find out how much house you can afford before you start shopping.

Is This The Right Neighborhood For Me?

No matter how beautiful the structure itself is, your house won’t seem like a home unless you’re comfortable with the surrounding neighborhood. Take a walk around your potential block to assess the area and compare it to your needs.

For families with children, are there high-quality schools in the area?
Do your neighbors’ homes seem well-kept?
What amenities (dry cleaner, grocery stores, parks, etc) do you want in your community?
How do the roads and sidewalks look?

Before committing to a purchase, visit the home at different times of the day to get an idea of what you might have to live with.

Am I Ready To Settle Down?

Align your home purchase with your future goals. If you know you’re planning to move out-of-state in the next several years, take that into account when shopping for a home. Will you be able to sell quickly enough before you leave? Or do you plan to retain ownership of the home and rent it out while you’re away?

Think about the directions your life might take in the next 5 to 10 years. By looking ahead, you can make a better plan for the best home you can afford which will accommodate you and your family in the years to come.

Buying your first home is a major decision. Knowing your goals, desires, and abilities before agreeing to a purchase a home will make you the most comfortable moving forward.

One of the best partners in your home purchase process will be your trusted mortgage professional. Be sure to make contact as soon as you are considering a new home purchase to start the pre-approval process.

5 Key Factors That Affect Your Mortgage Rate Many first time home buyers often wonder what factors determine their mortgage rate. Is it their credit score? Is it the type of loan chosen? Is it the size of the loan?

The truth is, there are many factors at play. Mortgage interest rates are not standardized across the board, so they vary from lender to lender and from borrower to borrower.

Here are 5 common factors that determine or affect your mortgage interest rate:

1. Default Risk

Risk is a key consideration when determining mortgage interest rates. Banks and other lenders are in a risky business because there is always a chance of a borrower defaulting on their loan repayments. This is known as default risk.

Banks and lenders therefore charge riskier borrowers higher interest rates to discourage them from borrowing, as well as to be able to average their returns between risky and non-risky borrowers. Risk is one of the prime factors that influence your mortgage rate.

2. Credit Score

Perhaps you are wondering how banks and other lenders determine if you are a risky or non-risky borrower. There are many tools they can use, but your credit score plays a big role. You credit score is based on the borrowing history in your credit report, which summarizes all details about your credit card balances and timely bill repayment.

If you pay your bills on time and sustain relatively low credit scores, your credit score stays high and lenders view you as a low-risk borrower. Consequently, your mortgage interest rates tend to be lower than a person with a low credit score.

3. Type of Property You Are Purchasing

Some properties have a higher risk of default compared to others. This is determined by analyzing the historical likelihood of default on different properties; lenders use this analysis as the reason to charge higher mortgage interest rates on riskier ones.

For example, vacation homes tend to have a higher rate of default compared to single-family homes and lenders charge higher rates for such homes.

4. Size of Down Payment

The amount of money you pay upfront on the mortgage also influences its interest rate. A large down payment gives you a lower LTV ratio (loan-to-value), which also decreases the level of risk borne by a lender. A small down payment, on the other hand, gives you a high LTV ratio and thus a higher mortgage interest rate.

5. Loan Amount

A large loan bears a higher risk than a smaller one simply because there is more money at risk. Most lenders therefore charge higher interest rates on large property loans as compared to smaller ones.

All in all, different lenders offer different rates depending on their style of operation, appetite for risk, or competitiveness in the market. It’s important to search intensively for offers from different lenders for the best mortgage rate. Contact your mortgage professional to help you find out more about mortgage rates and what that means for your next home purchase.