STOP RENTING AND OWN

for less than you are paying in rent with little money down

HOW TO OWN A HOME FOR LESS THAN YOUR CURRENT RENT You may often hear people say buying a home will help you pay less taxes. First we must look at your comfort levels for a monthly payment.

HOW MUCH OF A MORTGAGE PAYMENT CAN YOU COMFORTABLY HANDLE? A simple way to determine how much of a mortgage payment you can afford is to draft a simple monthly budget. 1. List your monthly income from all sources. That total is your “gross” monthly income. 2. Subtract from your gross income any taxes you pay or owe monthly – Federal taxes, state taxes, FICA (social security taxes), and Medicare taxes. Don’t forget to include the monthly amount of any estimated taxes you have to pay. What is left is your “net” income. 3. Next list your other monthly expenses, such as savings, utilities, groceries, insurance, car payments, tuition, clothing, entertainment, etc. (If some are payable yearly or quarterly, divide the amounts by 12 or 4 and add that to the monthly expenses.) Do not include current rent or housing payments, since those would no longer be applicable. 4. Subtract the total of your monthly expenses from your net income. The resulting amount is what is left for a house payment. Of course, you can always adjust your discretionary spending to leave more for a house payment. Just be sure to be realistic if you do that. An unrealistic budget can leave you in a financial bind when reality sets in. (Can you really get by with only $200 a month to feed your family of four? Probably not! Make sure your numbers make sense for your family.) Below you will find a sample budget. You can use it as a guide, but be sure to add any expenses that you have that don’t show up on our budget.

SAMPLE MONTHLY BUDGET

GROSS INCOME Jon’s salary $3,000 Sally’s salary $1,900 Sally’s tutoring income (avg. monthly ) $275 Child support $300

GROSS INCOME = $5,475

TAXES Federal tax $1,550 State tax $550 FICA $150 Medicare $80 Estimated ($300 quarterly ) $100

NET INCOME = $3,045

AMOUNT AVAILABLE FOR MORTGAGE PAYMENT =  $735

SO WHAT DO I DO NEXT? You many have heard the term pre-approved or pre-qualified. In the real-estate industry we do things a little backwards. Here is a very common scenario. You the buyer decided you want to move. You call a realtor and start looking for a home. Finally, you find the home of your dreams and your offer is accepted by the seller. Of course you will want to do a home inspection to make sure there is nothing wrong with your new home. The cost of a home inspection is generally $200-$300 and is paid at the time the inspection is done. Next, you will need to go to a lender and get a mortgage. At the mortgage application you will need to pay approximately $469 for an appraisal and credit report. After 3 or 4 weeks you will learn if your loan has been approved. If your loan was rejected you have now LOST almost $1,000.00 because the fees you paid are not refundable if your loan is rejected.

BUT THERE IS A SOLUTION: You can get pre-approved BEFORE you even go looking for a home. By being pre-approved you will know that your loan is already waiting for you and all you have to do is find your perfect home. You will also know how much you need to buy the home and what your monthly payment will be. Your next step is to call 703-748-3100 and schedule a FREE ONE HOUR CONSULTATION and get the process started. During this meeting we will discuss the mortgage programs that will best meet your needs. We will also try to make this program fit your needs and comfort level for a monthly payment and the amount you want to use to purchase your new home. Also during this meeting we will run a full credit report. This is an extremely important part of the process. You may have heard horror stories about people who bought a home, applied for a mortgage and were told by their lender everything looked good. Three weeks later, their loan was denied because some bad credit showed up, that WAS NOT on the credit report during the first meeting.

WHY WE WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU There are 3 major credit reporting agencies in the United States: Equifax, TRW & CBI. When a lender runs a free preliminary credit report for you they will run 1 of the 3 agencies listed above. The problem is that not every creditor will report to the same credit agency. For example, your VISA card may report to CBI; your store charge card may report to Equifax; and your Credit Union may report to TRW. During our meeting, we will want to run a FULL 3 agency credit report. This will allow you to know exactly what will be on your credit record. This is the same report that could be used when you purchase your home, so you many not need to pay for it again.

The Mortgage Exchange Service LLC prides itself on helping first time home buyers in Virginia and Maryland find the right Virginia home loans approach for them; if you have been looking through Virginia mortgage brokers, trying to find the right mortgage broker in Virginia for you, we encourage you to contact us. We are the Virginia home loans specialists for those looking for the best of the best in Virginia mortgage brokers!

Please CONTACT US to schedule your FREE NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATION and get the home of your dreams with the best terms available.

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