What to Avoid During your Home Purchase
What's better than buying a bunch of new stuff to go in your future home? Not much. But making big purchases before closing can be harmful. Until closing, there are still some hurdles to jump. We have listed some things below you will want to stay away from when waiting for closing.
Don't empty your wallet on big-ticket items Although you may be planning ways to turn your new home into a showplace, try to stay away from big ticket purchases like appliances, electronics, or expensive furnishings. We also recommend that you avoid vacations and car purchases until your loan closes. Your credit numbers could be altered suddenly if you make a huge purchase using credit cards. It's even a bad idea to make those big-ticket purchases with cash. Lenders are looking at your available cash when considering your loan.
Don't get a new job. Your recent job history should show consistency. Finding a new job (particularly one with a better salary) may not affect your ability to qualify for a mortgage loan. But for some, switching jobs during the mortgage loan application process may bring concern and stymie your approval.
Don't switch your accounts to a new bank or move around your finances. While your lending institution considers your mortgage loan application, you will likely be instructed to produce bank statements for the last few months for your checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and other liquid assets. To eliminate fraud, lenders look for a clear and consistent picture of how you earn your money and where additional funds come from. No matter the purpose, switching banks or moving funds from one account to another may raise a red flag with the lender and slow down your loan process.
Don't hand over earnest money directly to the seller in a FSBO (for sale by owner) purchase. Your good faith deposit does not belong to the seller: it is actually yours until the sale closes. Some FSBO sellers might not know that any good faith funds should be used for your expenses at closing. We recommend that you put the deposit into a trust account, or get an attorney to hold it until the deal closes. If your transaction fails, the contract with the seller should specify to whom the good faith funds should go.
Sky Apply Mortgage can answer questions about these "Don'ts" and many others. Give us a call: (813) 200-7931.