Posts Tagged ‘Benefits’
The Benefits of a Good Faith Estimate and Pre-approval When Buying Real Estate
Most real estate purchases are bought with loans so getting a good faith estimate and pre-approval letter from your lender helps the process start off on the right foot. The good faith estimate, or GFE for short, is required by law to be provided by lenders when you are seeking a loan. It lists out the estimated closing costs, monthly payments, and interest rates for the loan program you are looking at getting. The pre-approval letter is provided by lenders once they have run your credit and get your income / debt information. By getting the GFE and pre-approval letter, you can be confident that the loan will get processed with no surprises. There are also additional benefits to getting pre-approval and GFE before you even begin the property search. For one, by discussing your debt to income ratio with your lender and obtaining the GFE, you can determine your maximum price. It helps to know the maximum sales price when shopping around so that you do not waste time and energy looking a over-priced properties, and also vice verse, you do not waste time and energy looking at under-priced properties. You can find an area in your price range that fits your needs and narrow down your search. You also will determine your monthly payments with the GFE. The monthly payments should include the property taxes, insurance, principle, and interest plus any private mortgage insurance (PMI). If the monthly payments are higher than you wanted, then you can adjust your sales price to be lower. Another reason to get your pre-approval and GFE before starting your home search is that you may find out some issues with your credit or financial situation that you could clean up before moving forward with a purchase. For example, the first time I bought a house, I found out that I had a charge on my credit report from 3 years ago, which brought my credit score down. And with a lower credit score, I would have gotten a worse interest rate on the loan. I say ‘would have’ because I was able to pay off this collection and clear up the ding on my credit before going into the loan underwriting process. Finally, by getting a pre-approval letter, you have proof for a seller that a lender has confidence in being able to fund the purchase on your behalf. This helps with presenting offers and negotiating. Many sellers will not even accept an offer unless it is accompanied by a lender’s letter. Furthermore, if you do not have a letter, the seller may counter higher given that he feels he is taking on more risk that you may not be qualified for the loan amount. Also, if you happen to get into a multiple offer situation, your offer will be much stronger with a pre-approval letter.
Related Real Estate Articles
Benefits of Real Estate Investments Strategies
Real estate investing has offered investors much better returns than most other investment options. Real estate investment is one of the safest investments available. The security of real estate investments is becoming more and more increased these days. Real estate investment is a safe way to start making your personal wealth and retirement finance provided if you act wisely. Real estate investing offers excellent long term returns and sometimes even short term gains. Real estate investing can bring you high profits if you follow certain tips.
Many countries offer wide real estate investment opportunities. Real estate investors can easily find excellent profits in rentals, rehabs and high-end properties. Buying properties to use as rentals is very successful real estate investment strategy. The high-end properties have powerful demand among real estate investors, especially in the most desirable areas, such as Paris. The most successful real estate investment strategy is rehabs. Rehabs are also the most risky form of real estate investments. If there is huge demand for finished real estate properties, the opportunity for real estate investors increases widely. Finished real estate properties provide excellent opportunity for real estate investors who are willing to rehab and then rent or sell properties. Real estate investors who want to sell a property after grasping it for only a few years can benefit from this type of real estate investment strategy. Real estate investors who rehab properties can either sell or rent the rehabbed properties for a worthy premium. Real estate investors can buy a run-down property in a main location at a cheap price, remodel or modernize it and then resell or rent it successfully.
Flipping, Bargain purchase investment strategy, Increase value investment strategy, Double-digit cap rate investment strategy, and Commercial Real Estate Investment strategy are the other real estate investment strategies. Flipping involves buying and selling real estate property without actually taking ownership of the property. Flipping enables you to make money with real estate without possessing the property. Bargain purchase investment strategy involves purchasing real estate property for at least 20% less than the current market value. Increase-value investment strategy involves buying a real estate property for its current market value, remodeling the property in order to increase its value by at least 20%, and then selling it. Double-digit cap rate investment strategy involves buying a property having a capitalization rate of 10% or more. Commercial Real Estate Investment involves buying commercial properties that are bigger than a 4 unit apartment building. It is better for the real estate investors who are beginners in the field to avoid commercial real estate investment strategy. On the other hand, if you have experience in real estate investments, you can go for commercial real estate investment as the competition is much less.
Different real estate strategies require different amounts of time. For example rehab is really time-consuming. Real estate investors must not choose a time-consuming investment strategy if you cannot spend much time for real estate business. Some real estate strategies require huge amounts of cash. For example, to buy foreclosure properties whereas buying a property at auction requires little or no cash. The different real estate investment strategies provide different benefits. It is up to you to choose the strategy you feel more comfortable with. But make sure you choose the right strategy that best suits you, and work accordingly.
5 Tips in Getting Refinance Home Loan Rate Quotes
Want to get information on refinance home loan rate quotes without going out on a brick-and-mortar lending company and spend valuable time and energy? Here’s how you can easily get such rates.
Lender’s sites
With the advanced technology of today, there are now more options for the borrower when it comes to online loans. If you are currently looking Read the rest of this entry »
Home Equity Loans Canada- Your Questions Answered
In a November, 2007 report, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) stated that in the previous 12 months, 17% of mortgage holders took out home equity loans or increased their mortgage. The average equity loan was $35,400.
What are people doing with all this money? Paying down debts, sending the kids to school, investing in their homes – there are many possible answers to that questio Read the rest of this entry »


