Ideas To Get a Mortgage

Ideas Assist You in Improving Your Chances of Getting a Mortgage - Even though you may own a home already, many home owners are struggling to get a mortgage today.. It requires some patience and very frustrating. Struggling the most are those with sub 700 FICO scores, or those who are self-employed who were using stated income loans. Here are six tips to getting a loan more easily in today’s market:

• Documents - Scan your pay stubs, keep copies of your current employment records and, if you are self-employed, keep a letter from your accountant and business license copy.
• Avoid companies that will “raise your FICO.” You should focus on paying off 50% of each credit card, rather than pay off your high interest cards first
• Once your cards drop to 50% of their available limit, your FICO goes up because you are considered a less risky borrower.
• Don't close old loans and show them paid off. If you are an authorized user on someone else’s card, this can help improve your score, too (provided he or she is not over his or her limit!).
• Shop Around - Lenders advertise easy loans. Look out for origination fees (as much as 2 percent or more of the loan amount!), penalties for having a “lower than 700″ credit score, and companies that will not take your mortgage if you have a second mortgage.
• Maximize your first mortgage - Try to get as much as you can on your primary mortgage because the cost of home equity lines of credit and seconds today behind other loans at the 75% combined loan-to-value rate is very high.
• Brokers - Some brokers have access to great lenders that you don’t have access to through wholesale lending. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also shop around yourself. Compare what your broker finds to what you find, and be prepared with all the documentation you can handle.
• Appraisals - Particularly on jumbos or in areas that are “declining markets” (each bank is different in terms of ZIP codes they consider in the declining market arena), the banks often use internal appraisals. And rather than overinflating price as many did, they’re coming in at far less than they should to be fair and accurate. Having your own appraisal can be a good baseline to see whether the banks are ripping you off. If they can show a higher loan to value, they can charge you more for the loan.