Article on Buying a Home in This Market

This is a great article from Realtytimes.com entitled “What You Need to Know to Buy a Home Today.” The article gives information about the new stimulus package and other first time home buyer incentives. It also talks about reasons why it’s such a great time to buy – it is still a buyer’s market with tons of great opportunities out there, and it is a great time to invest.

Some tips for qualifying for a loan include:

1. Put down 20 percent on a home or don’t buy it. He says even if you can get a larger loan, don’t risk it. “Buy within your means. Look how we got [in this crisis],” says Procida. He adds, “There are still [people] out there doing no income verification loans.” Bottom line—buy what you can afford.
2. Check your credit. Procida says one of his family members found out that there was $20,000 of erroneously reported credit debt. “It’s absolutely incorrect, but it was on there,” says Procida. 
3. Clean up your credit. “If you have a delinquency clean it up, says Procida. And he advises that you check your report once it’s been cleaned up because sometimes the credit agencies neglect to update your credit report. 
4. Be prepared. Get all your financial records such as two years of tax returns in order and have them handy to make the loan process go smoothly. 
5. Liquidity is key. Don’t go buy a car before you plan to purchase a home (even if you can return it). Having cash helps to show you are qualified to buy at the price point you want.

To read the entire article click here.