Get A Credit Card For Your Mortgage
At a time in our market cycle when multiple offers are common and sellers are in control of the offer process, it’s more important than ever to secure your financing commitment before you start going out to look at homes.
But there’s a misconception about what that secure commitment entails.
What many banks do when qualifying a buyer for a mortgage is to just ask a few questions such as, “What is your annual income?”, and, “What are your debts?”. Then they will give you one of two things... a verbal quotation on how much you can borrow OR a written “Quick Qualifier”.
The problem with both of these is that they are conditional upon three things... you supplying satisfactory proof of income & down payment and you having a satisfactory credit bureau score.
Basically you have nothing until all 3 of the bank’s conditions have been met!
The best way to proceed is to get what we call a FULL mortgage pre-approval. That means you immediately provide proof of income, proof of down payment and get the lender or mortgage broker to pull your credit bureau score right away.
You have to supply this information anyway so it’s very much to your advantage to provide it ahead of time.
Once you have full mortgage pre-approval in place it is just like having a credit card with a set limit to go and buy a house. Now you know yourself, that if you have a credit card with a limit of $10,000, you can confidently go out there and buy something for up to $10,000 without question.
It’s the same thing here - by getting that full mortgage pre-approval in place, it’s like having a credit card for a mortgage of up to say $700,000. If you add on the down payment that you have, let say $50,000, then you can count on being able to buy a home up to $750,000 purchase price.
It’s a tremendous value just having that mortgage ‘credit card’ in place so that you know for sure exactly how much you can purchase!
There are two major benefits to doing this ahead of time... First you now know without question exactly how large of a mortgage you can qualify for and secondly, there will be NO stress once you buy that your mortgage will not be approved. Just add on your down payment and you know the maximum price you can pay.
I’ve designed a spreadsheet to help calculate how large a mortgage you’re likely to qualify for along with a checklist of the documents that you’ll require to obtain that full mortgage pre-approval.
Get a copy of the spreadsheet and checklist by emailing or texting me.
Thomas Cook
Thomas@LivingInToronto.com
647-962-1650
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Here are 5 proven ways to move safely and smartly towards your real estate buying goal...
- Download a free copy of my Ultimate Home Buyer’s Guide book
- Get a custom listings search set up for you and receive targeted listings daily
We can set up your HOMEWatch search for any area you choose (not just downtown Toronto), and you'll get immediate access to homes within minutes of them being listed. Just leave some search criteria here
- Set up a step-by-step plan with the best ways to get to your home buying goal
Our first-time and move-up buyers have told us that being able to meet with us on a casual basis as early in the process as possible, even if their purchase date was 6-12 months away, really worked the best for them.
To arrange your no-obligation Starbucks Strategy Session, click here.
- Join us for a Market Experience Tour - pick your favourite neighbourhoods and price range
The Market Experience Tour is a great way for you to figure out which neighbourhoods and condo buildings are right for you, and you’ll also get a good sense of what’s available in your price range.
Pick the date and time you like to go on your Tour.
- Don’t start your home buying experience on the wrong foot - Meet for a Buyer Consultation first!!
Don’t make the same mistake. Let’s set a time to meet and go over how the complete home buying process works, find out what your likes and dislikes are and what pitfalls you’ll want to avoid, before you seriously start looking for a house or condominium.
This is the best 90 minutes of time you’ll ever spend - set up your private Buyer Consultation.
