Redfin

JULY 30, 2025

Most homebuyers will need to think ahead about the following costs when estimating how much money is needed to purchase a home: Down payment: The down payment is a percentage of the home’s purchase price, anywhere from 0% to 20% depending on your loan. Several loan options, such as FHA or VA loans, only require a down payment of 3.5%

Pre-approval

Redfin

JUNE 13, 2025

Step 3: Research second-time homebuyer programs and loans Step 4: Work with an experienced agent Step 5: Make a strong offer as a second-time homebuyer Step 6: Plan your transition Second-time homebuyer FAQs Is it harder to buy a house the second time? If your finances have improved, you might even qualify for a larger loan or better terms.

Debt-to-income ratio

The Close

JULY 28, 2025

Portfolio lenders can be an excellent financing option if you’re looking for a source of funding that you can’t get anywhere else, whether it’s because you can’t get approved, or you’re just flat out looking for uncommon terms. You see, portfolio lenders retain loans in-house so they don’t have to worry about third-party requirements.

Pre-qualification

Redfin

JULY 30, 2025

Key takeaways: First-time homebuyer: Anyone who hasn’t owned a primary residence in the past three years Common first-time homebuyer qualifications: Credit score, debt-to-income ratio, down payment, income limits, employment history, purchase limits, homebuyer education Buying your first home? Let’s get started.

Debt-to-income ratio

Rochester Real Estate

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Factors such as earnest money deposits, loan approvals, and real estate agent involvement should be considered. Begin by confirming your loan approval and securing a complete and documented pre-approval from your lender. This includes considering financial stability, loan pre-approval, and contingencies.

Earnest money deposit

The Mortgage Report

JULY 7, 2025

Buy a Home Home-Buying Loan Types Low Down Payment Mortgages Conventional Loans VA Loans FHA Loans FHA 203k Rehab Loan USDA Loans Investment Property Mortgages Compare Home Buying Loans Home Buying Help Do I Need 20% Down? Check your home equity loan options. How Much Home Can I Afford?

Equity

Marco Santarelli

JUNE 28, 2025

If you're considering taking out a mortgage or refinancing your current home loan, knowing these updated rates will help you make informed financial decisions. It's essential to factor in that for larger loan amounts, many lenders may require a larger down payment or stricter qualification criteria.

Mortgages

Rochester Real Estate

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

It’s unfortunate, but not every prospective buyer is going to be able to qualify for a home loan. In the simplest terms the main difference is that a bank has its own lending criteria and offers loans by using its own funds. Have you tried calling a bank on a Saturday night to get a pre-approval letter?

Finance

Redfin

JULY 31, 2025

If you’re unsure where to start, check with HUD-approved counseling agencies, non-profit organizations, and local housing authorities to find available courses. State and local programs: Cities and states may offer down payment assistance, forgivable loans, or closing cost help. These require just 3.5%

Purchase and sale agreement

Redfin

MARCH 4, 2025

Key takeaways You can use your 401(k) to buy a home with a 401(k) loan or withdrawal. A 401(k) loan allows you to borrow the money without penalty, but you need to repay it. The difference between these two accounts is that traditional 401(k) contributions are pre-tax, so youll be taxed once taking them out. What is a 401(k)?

Debt-to-income ratio

Marco Santarelli

MARCH 23, 2025

Rate Variations: Understand how rates vary by loan type and borrower eligibility. Here's a breakdown of the estimated monthly payments based on various loan amounts at these current average rates. Pre-approval: Before looking at homes, you should get pre-approved for a mortgage.

Mortgages

Redfin

JULY 7, 2025

Get clear pre-approval: Make sure your mortgage pre-approval reflects your current debts, legal obligations, and post-divorce income so you know what you can truly afford. Your current mortgage, joint debts, and ongoing legal expenses can affect your ability to qualify for a new loan and manage monthly payments.

Debt-to-income ratio

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Pre-screened credit card offers to consumers fall under this definition, CHLA explained, but the application and relevance to the mortgage business is more limited, it argues. Lenders do not receive this data in the trigger lead process.

Debt-to-income ratio

Housing Wire

MAY 7, 2025

She was a responsible borrower but made a mistake: she had lost track of her student loan payments and was 60 days late. The client, who logged into her student loan portal and made a payment, is now in limbo about whether a new credit report needs to be pulled in her 90-day escrow, the loan officer at Guild Mortgage told HousingWire.

Loans

Keeping Current Matters

JUNE 22, 2021

You may have been told that it’s important to get pre-approved at the beginning of the homebuying process, but what does that really mean, and why is it so important? Pre-approval from a lender is the only way to know your true price range and how much money you can borrow for your loan. Bottom Line.

Pre-approval

Keeping Current Matters

AUGUST 27, 2020

You may have heard that pre-approval is a great first step in the homebuying process. So, before you start shopping around, it’s helpful to know your price range, what you’re comfortable within a monthly mortgage payment, and ultimately how much money you can borrow for your loan. But why is it so important? Bottom Line.

Pre-approval

Housing Wire

MARCH 30, 2021

It’s no secret credit scores can hinder a potential borrower’s ability to qualify for the best loan program, which can ultimately lead to poor borrower satisfaction. Borrowers don’t always know or understand how their credit or debt-to-income ratio (DTI) impacts the type of loan they can qualify for. Or, give up looking altogether.

Pre-qualification

Housing Wire

DECEMBER 28, 2023

In his 20 years in mortgage banking, no year has compared to 2023 in terms of difficulty, said Ben Cohen, Guaranteed Rate ’s managing director and a top-producing loan officer. It was another brutal year, pushing loan originators to work longer hours, close loans faster while diversifying their mortgage product offerings.

Loans

Windemere Buying

MARCH 1, 2023

Before you begin your home buying journey , it’s helpful to know about pre-approval, pre-qualification, and proof of funds, and the role they play in a real estate transaction. Homeownership Terms to Know: Rent-Back Agreement, Joint Tenancy & More Pre-Qualification and Pre-Approval What is pre-qualification?

Pre-qualification

Housing Wire

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

Soft credit pulls are a critical tool that our member mortgage loan originators use to work with underserved borrowers — particularly borrowers with credit blemishes — to improve their credit score and ultimately obtain a pre-qualification or an actual mortgage loan,” the CHLA wrote in a letter to the three credit bureaus on Wednesday.

Pre-qualification

Housing Wire

JANUARY 18, 2022

” Per the company’s website , it takes five minutes to receive a pre-qualification for a mortgage, though final approval is conditional on finishing the application and providing supporting documents. Milo said that it has originated millions of dollars in loans and has had applicants from over 63 countries. “As

Mortgages

HomeLight

JUNE 19, 2023

Like pre-qualification or pre-approval. Let’s lay it all out: How pre-qualifications and pre-approvals are similar Pre-qualifications and pre-approvals have a few things in common. They both estimate the size of the home loan you can expect to get.

Pre-qualification

Housing Wire

JULY 4, 2024

It may mean drilling down and familiarizing yourself, and your potential clients, with the ins and outs of credit repair, loan pre-qualification and pre-approval, and even basic personal finance and budgeting. By embracing new ways of thinking and running our businesses, we can help clients achieve their dreams.

Pre-qualification

Realtor.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

designer491/Shutterstock What is a pre-qualification letter? I tell most people they can take that pre-qualification letter and throw it in the trash,” says Patty Arvielo , a mortgage banker and president and founder of New American Funding, in Tustin, CA. What to know about a pre-qualification letter.

Pre-qualification

First Team Real Estate

AUGUST 31, 2020

If you’ve read any tips for homebuyers then chances are you’ve heard that you need to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan. The question is – how exactly do you get the pre-approval? Here are the steps you need to take to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan and the most important facts you need to get you there.

Pre-approval

Housing Wire

MAY 12, 2022

Customer-facing technologies, particularly loan origination and decisioning software, are now standard in mortgage lending’s tech stack. But it’s also possible for a homebuyer to apply and receive approval on a mortgage loan without them ever actually speaking with another human. This is not an Amazon order.

Lending

Housing Wire

AUGUST 31, 2020

Even as lenders make significant investments in new technology and digital infrastructure, they continue to struggle with increasing costs per loan and time-to-close metrics. And it’s Day 1 Certainty approved.”. But we don’t. PRODUCT: AutomatIQ Borrower.

Pre-qualification

Realtor.com

JANUARY 16, 2023

. “While you do not ‘need’ a pre-approval letter from your lender in order for your offer to be accepted, I highly recommend all of my buyers present it,” says Denise Shur , a Realtor® with 1:1 Realty in San Jose, CA. ” What is mortgage pre-approval? .”

Mortgage pre-approval letter

Maximum Exposure Real Estate

DECEMBER 6, 2020

How Pre-approval Differs From Pre-qualification Do you know how mortgage preapproval differs from a prequalification? There has been some confusion among those looking to buy a home and qualify for a mortgage loan regarding the difference between a mortgage pre-approval vs. a pre-qualification letter.

Pre-qualification

Realtor.com

AUGUST 13, 2020

Step 1: Getting mortgage pre-approval. Step 1: Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Your first step shouldn’t be to check out homes; it should be to get mortgage pre-approval from a mortgage lender or broker. Keep in mind that mortgage pre-approval is different than mortgage pre-qualification).

Pre-approval

RIS Media

DECEMBER 19, 2020

Pre-qualifying for a mortgage is often the first step toward owning a home. Here’s some information that can help you to figure out how and when to apply for a loan this year: Pay Attention to Falling Rates. Look at Loan Types. Look at Loan Types.

Loans

Realty Biz

DECEMBER 10, 2020

It is effortless to start looking at homes that you will later find you can’t afford when you try to get approved for a mortgage. How to Get Preapproved For a Loan. As such, this qualification process will only give you a rough idea of the size of mortgage you can get. Comparing a Mortgage Preapproval to Full Approval.

Loans

HomeLight

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

You’ve just received the first offer on your home — and it’s backed by an FHA loan. So what do you need to know about FHA loans as a seller? Today, FHA loans represent a fair share of the mortgage market; in 2018, the FHA insured 12.1% FHA loans help make homeownership more accessible. of all mortgage originations.

FHA loan

Realtor.com

APRIL 29, 2021

Yet home loans aren’t always easy to understand—and there’s a lot of misinformation out there about how mortgages work. “A Plenty of loan programs accept far less. And PMI can be pricey, amounting to about 1% of your whole loan—or $1,000 per year per $100,000. of your loan—that’s quite a spread.

Pre-qualification

Realtor.com

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

Here are more step-by-step home-buying details, including information about down payments, closing costs, mortgage rates, pre-approved mortgages, and more. Unless you have enough cash lying around to buy some real estate outright—and let’s face it, few do—first-time home buyers will need a loan first, not a real estate agent.

Pre-approval

HomeLight

OCTOBER 22, 2021

It’s tough to say without a mortgage approval, but it always helps to start with a home affordability calculator. You may be wondering how affordability calculators work if you’re ready to get some numbers down on paper before showing up for a pre-qualification meeting with a lender. So, how much home can you afford?

Pre-qualification

HomeLight

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

From getting pre-approved for your mortgage to offering flexible closing dates, these strategies are designed to put you in a stronger position. Get pre-approved for your mortgage loan Securing a mortgage pre-approval is perhaps the most important first step in making a compelling offer.

Pre-qualification