Before purchasing a home, you must do some fact-finding:
- How much money are you able to put toward a down payment?
- What is the monthly house payment you’re comfortable with?
- Considering these factors, what is the maximum purchase price you can pursue?
Answering these questions helps create healthy limits and boundaries during the home buying process while providing an unofficial “preapproval.” However, the limit on the home purchase price may make finding your ideal home a bit challenging. The question often comes up: “How can I increase the purchase price limit?”
To be clear, we are not talking about increasing the purchase price to take you off budget. It’s never wise to increase the financial requirement outside of your plan. Maintaining a house payment in a comfortable range is extremely important.
What we are talking about is doing two things that can increase the purchase price while still keeping you within a healthy budget. These actions are free and will allow you to place offers on homes that otherwise wouldn’t be financially affordable.
1. Get your loan from a broker – NOT A BANK.
There is no argument that the absolute best deal on a home loan is obtained through a mortgage broker. As mentioned by Forbes in this article, brokers have lower rates, lowers costs, and net you lower payments. Because your purchase price limit is based on the rate, costs, and payment the qualifying institution is using – the qualifying institution with the lower rates and fees is the one that will have a HIGHER limit on your purchase price. If you are qualified through a mortgage banker, your purchase price limit will likely be lower than it would be if you were qualified through a mortgage broker.
Bottom line – a mortgage broker can help you buy more home while staying within your budget. If the Forbes article wasn’t validating enough, check out this article from Housing Wire. They too say brokers are better!
For more information on the difference between mortgage brokers and mortgage bankers, click here.
2. Meet with a broker ASAP – NOT days or weeks before you are “ready.”
All too often, people only reach out to get qualified when they are in the process of looking at homes. Although that may sound logical, it’s actually not best. The process of buying a home includes many variables which can be adjusted in your favor. A slight change in your financial behaviors may help you save money or increase your credit score. These small changes can make a big impact on your qualifying interest rate. We like to say: It doesn’t matter if you are six months, 12 months, or three years away – if you know you’re going to buy a home someday, MEET WITH US! This allows us to hear your needs and goals, and create a game plan to follow. This plan will not only give you peace of mind, it will help you become a better qualified borrower. It will also increase the limit of the purchase price during your home buying process.
If you’re planning on buying a home sometime within the next few years, PLEASE MEET WITH US! We are a mortgage broker who can put you on track to meet your goals. Schedule an appointment with one of our wise home loan advisors below.
