First Time Home Buyers- What You Need To Know.
Buying a home for the first time is scary. It’s terrifying. There is so much unknown and a lot of information to be known. Titan Lending aims to make the home-buying process seamless and simple, especially for first-time homebuyers. Let’s break down the information to make it less overwhelming, starting with the most basic questions.
How do I Know I am Ready to Buy a Home?
The first thing to do is have a discussion with yourself and decide if you are ready for the responsibility of being a homeowner and all that it entails. Next, put in an application with Titan Lending to allow us to build and look at your file. The file consists of your ID, living history (where you have previously rented from or if you have lived with your parents), employment history (where you have previously worked and received paystubs from), and credit scores. If you are a student, you are able to use school as a part of your work history. At a minimum, we request two years of employment records and a living history. From here, we are able to either tell you that you are ready to begin the process or help make you a personalized plan to get you where you need to be.
Can I Afford to Buy a Home?
If you are paying rent, you can afford to buy a home. By paying rent, you are essentially paying someone else’s mortgage, so why not pay your own and gain equity in your own home? Now unless you are paying cash, you will need a mortgage. The process begins with the same application submission previously discussed but with the added supporting documentation. This means submitting paystubs, a point of contact for rental verification (unless you are living with parents), and your ID. If you want to own a home, your first step should be to contact Titan Lending to discuss your loan options and scenarios, along with filling out a mortgage application. We cannot recommend pre-approval enough for clients BEFORE they go shopping for a home.
What are First Time Home Buyer Loan Options?
The idea that you must have 20% down for a down payment is a myth. At Titan Lending, we are able to offer first-time home buyers a conventional loan with as low as 3% down and up to 20% down. We also offer Federal Housing Authority loans (FHA loans) with a down payment of 3.5% and a Veteran Administration loan (VA loan) with 0% down! For rural areas, we can offer the United States Department of Agriculture loan (USDA loan) a down payment of 0%! These options have different loan terms, meaning the time allotted to repay the loan. The most common is a 30-year fixed rate loan (the longest time frame you can get) down to a 5-year fixed rate loan (the shortest time frame available).