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What to Look for When Buying a House in St. Louis

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If you’re in the market for buying a home, you may be overwhelmed by all of the options you have and the decisions you have to make.

what to look for when buying a house in St. Louis

If you’re in the market for buying a home, you may be overwhelmed by all of the options you have and the decisions you have to make. You are not alone! Almost everyone that sets out to look for a house to buy, faces these issues.

If you are looking to buy a brand new home, you may think the process will be easier. However, new homes can be just a troublesome as old ones. Because they haven’t been tested by years of use, they can have potential problems that go unseen prior to purchase. This can be especially true if the builder used shoddy materials or methods. Hiring a house inspector before you buy a new home is one way to guard against expensive surprises.

While hiring an inspector is very important before you purchase a home, you may waste time and money by unnecessarily hiring one for a home that turns out to have noticeable issues. For instance, if you end up buying the home that was inspected, you will have spent your money well. On the other hand, if you do not purchase the home because the inspector found major issues, you may have been able to spot some of these things yourself and have saved yourself the hassle and cost!

What to Look for When Buying a House

If you do a little leg work upfront, you may be able to answer some of these questions yourself:

  • The Roof – is it old or new? Are there shingles missing or look like it wasn’t applied properly?
  • Structure – step back and look at the house. Are the walls flat and plumb? On the inside, do any walls bow or lean? What about the floor – does it flex if you jump in the middle of a room, or does is feel solid?
  • Water Control – is there any water damage, inside or outside? Does the ground slope away from the home? Will the homes gutters and drains carry rain water away from it effectively?
  • Kitchen & Bath – do all of the fixtures work? Is the water pressure strong when you turn on the tap or flush the toilet? Have the appliances been well taken care of?
  • Furnace & Air Conditioner – are these relatively new? Find out what the average utility bills are for the home, if they are more costly, maybe the systems are not efficient as they could be.
  • Details – Check the windows, are they in good condition? Is there quality in the workmanship of the moldings, paint, tiling and hardware?

What you are able to determine on your own may be able to save you time and money.

How to Get Pre Approved for a Mortgage

Even before you find your perfect St. Louis home, you can have the confidence of a “Cash Buyer” by getting pre approved for financing!

Our TBD Mortgage Approval relieves much of the anxiety surrounding buying a house. My team will go over an entire set of “To Be Determined” loan documents with you before you even start your search for the perfect home. We will be able to process and underwrite your entire loan file with a property address of “To Be Determined”.

Contact the Sean Z Team today at (314) 361-9979 or fill out our online contact form to get started!

How to Get a Pre Approved Home Loan in St. Louis

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Many home buyers think they need to find a house before getting the mortgage paperwork done. However, in the mortgage world, 95% of what we do has nothing to do with the house.

pre-approved for home loan St. Louis

The St. Louis home market is off to a good start in 2016. Home values are going up and the amount of non-distressed home sales have increased as well.

With this in mind, many potential home buyers are starting the process of looking to buy a house. Yet, many buyers think they need to find a house to buy before getting the home loan paperwork done.

How to Get Pre Approved for a Mortgage

In order to get pre-approved for a mortgage, you will need to give detailed information about your assets and income. These will then be reviewed by the lender’s underwriters. If you are approved, the lender will give you a commitment for a specific loan amount.

Getting preapproved for a mortgage shows that you have the resources to make the purchase of a new home. From a sellers perspective, a buyer that is pre-approved for a mortgage is more attractive than someone that only has their word to be able to back up their offer.

At Sean Zalmanoff Mortgage, we can help you will the entire home loan pre-approval process. The more time we have, the more beneficial it can potentially be for you. This gives us time to examine your credit, income, and assets.

The TBD Mortgage Process

The TBD mortgage approval program, means that our mortgage underwriters will examine your credit history, employment history, debt ratios, down payment amount, reserves and any other necessary documentation to get you approved for financing while your house is still “To Be Determined”.

The first step is to fill out the application and provide a number of disclosures. Then we can submit everything to underwriting. Once this is done, you have 6 months before you would have to have a home under contract.

For your convenience, we can start the entire process online. All we need to do is get an appraisal and the title work and, as long as your house appraises and the title is clean, you will be able to get a loan. The more time we have, the more beneficial it can potentially be for you. This gives us time to examine your credit, income, and assets.

Contact the Sean Z Team Today!

Call us today at (314) 361-9979 or fill out our online contact form.  “The TDB Mortgage Approval Program” gives home buyers, sellers, and real estate agents the confidence that comes from knowing USA Mortgage is standing behind them.

5 Things Required for Pre-Approval

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A pre-approval letter by a lender is one of the most beneficial documents that will help you in your quest for buying a home.

mortgage pre-approval

When you meet with Sean Z, you can discuss loan options and budgeting structure. We will be able to check your credit rating and inform you of any potential problems. Our unique “TBD Mortgage Approval Program” will give you confidence while looking for your dream home in St. Louis.

Obtaining a Pre-Approval Letter

As a home buyer, you should first of all be comfortable with the repayment structure of the loan you are applying for. You should never aim for the top of your spending limit from the very beginning. Many home sellers look for a pre-approval letter from the lender of the prospective buyer, since this document proves your ability to finance the purchase. The five documents that your lender requires prior to issuing a pre-approval letter are given below:

1. Proof of Income

Gone are the days when loans were sanctioned without any verification or documentation. Proof of income can be provided by your W-2 statement of the past two years which include your payment statements, additional income statements like income from alimony or bonuses, and your tax return statements of the past two years.

2. Proof of Assets

A lender will require your bank statements and investment statements to ascertain that you have the required capital to make the down payment and closing costs plus some funds in reserve. FHA loans require a down payment of just about 3.5 percent of the total cost, whereas down payment for a conventional loan is generally 10 – 20 percent. If you receive funds from a friend or a relative for helping you in making the down payment, you should also have a gift letter from the friend or relative stating that the said amount is a gift and not a loan.

3. Good Credit Score

The borrowers with the highest credit scores get loans at the lowest interest rates. A credit score of 740 or above gets you the lowest rate of interest on your home loan. Borrowers with a credit score of 580 and below are often required to pay a higher amount as down-payment. A credit score of 620 is preferred for an approval of an FHA loan.

4. Verification of Employment

Lenders are not always satisfied by the pay stubs provided by you. They may also call your employer to confirm your employment and what is your salary package. Borrowers with stable income are generally preferred by lenders as they are sure to recover their capital.

5. Documentation

A copy of your drivers’ license and social security number along with your signatures will be required to pull up your credit report. You should be prepared to provide any additional paperwork that may be required for a smooth mortgage process. So keep these documents ready before you go shopping for a mortgage.

Call the Sean Z Mortgage team at (314) 361-9979 today!

4 Compelling Reasons To Be Pre-Approved For Your Mortgage

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Why will a pre-approved mortgage help you successfully buy the home of your dreams?

pre-approval

Would you go to the supermarket to buy groceries without knowing how much money you had on your debit card to spend? Shopping for a new home without first knowing how much you will be able to borrow is doing the same thing. If you are on the fence about looking into Sean Z’s “TBD Mortgage Approval Program“, here are five reasons to help you reconsider.

Save Time!

Use your valuable time wisely; avoid looking at homes that you can not afford. With a TBD approval, you can be very specific with your realtor about the type of home you can afford, and insist that he or she save you time by only showing you homes inside of that price range.

Avoid Disappointment!

Use your TBD mortgage approval to make sure that you do not fall in love with a home that you simply cannot afford to buy. Instead, prepare for success by looking at a potential home that will turn into a realty!

Increase Your Negotiating Power!

You look better to a seller who is deciding between various offers when you have a Sean Z “TBD Mortgage Approval Program.” They know that the offer is not conditional based on financing since you already have it. Many home sellers in St. Louis have lost thousands of dollars waiting for a closing that never happens because the buyer can not get a loan approval. Use this to your advantage and make it a selling point when putting in your offer.

Save Money!

It just makes more sense to have your mortgage pre-approved before you start looking at houses. The stressful part of finding a loan is behind you and now you can enjoy the entire house hunting experience with peace of mind. You get to choose the right home already knowing it is at the right price.

The majority of the criteria needed for a home loan approval is dependent on the borrower, and their financial status rather than the house itself. Use this to your advantage by establishing a good credit history, saving money towards a down payment, and getting your Sean Z TBD mortgage approval before you begin searching for the new home of your dreams.

Call us today at (314) 361-9979!

Signs That the St. Louis Housing Market Is On the Rise

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The National Association of Realtors revealed that there was an influx of new homes entering the market.

st-louis-housing-marketThis is great news for buyers who had been experiencing limited choices in new homes since this past January. Although still down 5.2 percent from the same period last year, pending home sales showed a jump of 6.1 percent. The onset of warmer weather has finally put St. Louis homeowners back to the business of selling their properties. This trend is being noted not only in St. Louis, but all across the nation.

An Ideal Sellers Market

Thanks to a lagging market in the earlier part of the year, a shortage of houses on the market made for an ideal sellers market for St. Louis residents. House hunters are reporting that homes are being bought in only a few days. With multiple offers being made and actual bidding contests taking place for ownership, some have resorted to offering cash as an incentive in order to entice the seller to choose them.

This is not making things easy for a house hunter and it is being suggested that in order to make themselves just as appealing to a seller they should be getting pre-approved for a mortgage. This is a sign to the seller that your offer is serious and that it won’t fall through later for lack of funding.

Pre-Approval Before House Hunting

Most home buyers do not realize that they have this option. Having your TBD Approval in hand before the hunt not only makes you more attractive to a seller who is getting multiple offers, it saves you the time and heartache of looking at homes that are not in your budget.

How Lenders Qualify Borrowers

Traditionally, more value was placed on the value of a home than on the borrower’s ability to pay the monthly mortgage premiums. Recent economic events have taught lenders to look harder at the borrower then on the assets of the home. This should not scare you away from looking for a house. There are a variety of loan packages available that are backed by Fannie Mae and the FHA that are helpful for first-time homebuyers and those whose credit is less than perfect.

Before meeting with a real estate agent, meet with a reputable lender like Sean Z Mortgage, who will work on helping you determine how much house you can afford. We will get busy on getting your pre-approval so that you can get busy on the hunt for the perfect home. A good lender knows that there is more to the job than collecting data and running it through a formula. Sean Z Mortgage will go over with you your personal and financial situation to find you the perfect loan package that can fit all of your needs.

Be ready for this strong seller’s market that has taken over the St. Louis real estate market by getting prepared beforehand. The better you look financially to a seller with options the better the odds that they will pick you. Call Sean Z Mortgage with USA Mortgage at (314) 361-9979.

Photo credit: Nan Palmero via Flickr

Sean Z Team
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