While mortgage rates have risen slightly from their recent historic lows, they are still cheap. This may be a great time for you to take out a mortgage, whether it be for a new house or simply to refinance.
Regardless of your knowledge and history with mortgages, it is easy to make mistakes. Here are some common examples:
- Not looking at your credit before showing it to a lender. Just like you wouldn’t go on a job interview without looking at yourself in a mirror, don’t go to a meeting with a lender before you examine your credit. Be sure to look at your credit six to twelve months in advance so you have time to clean it up and get it right for your anticipated loan.
- Not getting pre-approved. You would never get in your car to go shopping without your wallet. Trying to shop for loan without getting pre-approved is like doing exactly that.
- Not shopping for the best deal. Would you buy a $200,000 pair of pants without first seeing if you could get them for less? Not shopping for the best loan is making that same mistake. More than half of all borrowers don’t shop around for their mortgage. You need to shop; better yet, pit lenders against each other.
- Know rates and fees. A final mistake would be focusing on rates only and not fees also. Mortgages are often loaded with them.
Bottom line: shopping for your dream home is way more fun than shopping for your mortgage. But it’s a necessary step in the process, one which could save you thousands of dollars.