| tuesday august
5, 2003
(Bastards Of A Feather
Flock Together...) |
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My friend Kenny is often described as
stubborn, rude, outspoken, and opinionated. He's certainly
not afraid to speak his mind, which at times causes people to be
anywhere from mildly to greatly offended. I myself openly
refer to him as a "rat bastard". Of course, I
admire every bit of his Nazi moxie.
By trade, Kenny is a mortgage
broker. Although his chosen profession seems to be in
direct contrast to his personality, he is actually quite
successful at what he does. His success probably
comes from an ability to harness his stubbornness and
outspokenness and turn them into determination and ambition;
obstinance breeds achievement.
And in my opinion, Kenny also has good judgment: He
contracted me to write his monthly newsletter and various
handouts for his new homeowner's seminars.
Yes, a rat bastard gave me my first paying
writing gig......
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The
year 2003 continues to be a record-breaker in the housing
market. With over
2.5 million existing homes for sale, this past June was
another outstanding month for homebuyers, real estate agents,
and mortgage brokers. Not
only was June the fourth-highest month ever for existing home
sales, but we also saw the lowest long-term mortgage rates
since 1956; the average interest rate was an astounding 5.23%.
So in this time of frenzied home shopping, what can you do to get an
edge? What advantage
can you gain in the lending, buying and closing process?
The first--and most important--step is pre-approval,
which is a thorough assessment by the lender of the customer’s
income, assets, and application for a loan.
In this robust market, many mortgage brokers have found that they
actually have more business than they can handle at times.
With the current low interest rates, brokers are being
overwhelmed not only with applications new home loans, but also with
clients wanting to refinance their current mortgage.
By getting a pre-approval, this puts you at the front of the
pack; a pre-approval shows the lender that you are serious about
buying or refinancing. Also,
mortgage brokers are high on pre-approval as it easily separates the
qualified customers from the non-qualified customers (those who are
just “window shopping”), thus saving them valuable time as well as
money. |
A pre-approval also shows the seller that you are
very serious about purchasing their home.
By presenting yourself in this way, the seller--and the
seller’s agent--may bump you to the top of the list if there
are several possible buyers competing.
Home shoppers who do not have pre-approval are at a
distinct disadvantage in this area.
Also, a pre-approval allows a buyer to propose a
quicker close to the purchase--a prospect that is very
appealing to the seller.
Every buyer, seller, real estate agent, and lender
desires that all-important closing by the date of escrow.
Imagine that you have found the home of
your dreams. Now
imagine being halfway through the purchase process and finding
out that you’re not quite qualified to buy the house.
What could be worse?
With pre-approval, you and the seller will know ahead
of time exactly what you will be able to afford in terms of
financing. Preventing
costly and time-consuming delays is a great benefit of
pre-approval. By
preparing your financing ahead of time, you are more likely to
avoid possible pitfalls throughout your home buying process.
And pre-approval also gives you something that you
can’t put a price on: peace of mind.
So try to think of a pre-approval as
starting a marathon an hour before your fellow runners.
Don’t skip this important step or else you may very
well be left behind in the race for your dream home.
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copyright 2003 by gja |
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