#12 Choices and Decisions - After Approval






You have been carefully and methodically researching, preparing and submitting the documentation essential for your application for your home loan. It’s all been submitted, examined down to microscopic detail and – finally – approved! Meanwhile, the 1.a., 1.b. considerations about a specific house have been temporarily moved a bit down on the priority list. Out of focus, maybe; but definitely not out of mind!

In fact, as your Mortgage Loan Officer has no doubt discussed with you, now that your loan application has been Pre-approved, a whole new, long list of choices and decisions come into consideration.

Perhaps, up until you were finally handed that prized Pre-approval, you kept hopes and dreams a bit under wraps. Of course, you have pictured the kinds of features you’d like in a home, the “ideal” location, the style, and setting. However, until your loan was actually Pre-approved and you knew for sure how much money would be loaned for your purchase, you tried not to dream too far ahead. But now, it’s a reality! That “Away we go!” feeling can be indulged, you can really get down to the details of the home itself.

A word of CAUTION! It is very important to remember that your Pre-Approval” was and is based on the circumstances at the time it was awarded. That means that it is your responsibility to maintain the stability and the facts on which your Pre-Approval was based! Everything from your use of credit, your employment status and other financial habits, if abused, can jeopardize the Pre-Approval status. It’s vital that you discuss any changes with your loan officer prior to it happening, if at all possible.

That said, if you are a young family buying your first home, it is a very exciting time for everyone! The fun can begin, the appointments can be made to view actual and likely prospects; and you really know what’s within your reach.

Perhaps you are a young single person who has grown frustrated paying rent and want to know that the monthly outlay of funds – from now on – will be not only a home for you, but an investment as well! On the other hand, you might be in middle age and are leaving behind the large property it took to rear and launch your children. You are looking for something just for yourselves, more compact and with different considerations.

Whatever your personal profile is, you are on the way to the real thing. You want to make the right preliminary choices and decisions for this new phase of your journey into a home of your own. Make no mistake, this phase is both exciting and critical.

It’s time to decide about some basic choices. If there is more than one decision maker, it is all the more important to agree on those basics in advance. Where do you want to live...exactly? What type of house do you want – older, brand new, stick-built, manufactured? Traditional energy or Solar powered? Do you want to be in town on the flats, or out of town in the hills? Very near schools? Pool? Need space for pets, livestock or a garden?

Is there a handicap requirement? One level, two story...?

Some of the back-and-forth on that list – which is admittedly incomplete – is surely private! The answers to all those questions, and more, will define your search. Of course, there will be changes, there must be flexibility and there could be a complete turn-around! (What if you are shown a house completely different from what you had in mind – and you fall in love? It happens!)

Making some of these choices well in advance of choosing your appropriate Realtor can save hours of your time and theirs! Consider that break I mentioned; make some lists!

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