Full Transcript is Below:
– Hey folks. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV and the man has struck again. He’s done it again. I’m talking about Gene DiPaula, our Vice President of Communications. He’s come up with yet another groundbreaking segment. This one is called Viewpoint. This is when we get questions from our very captive social media following at NFM. We have brought on Bryan Harrison. He is really an expert in the business of making loans, in particular, in helping people get into houses. So, Bryan, thanks for being with us.
– Absolutely, good to be with you Greg. You’ve been with us 11 years now,
– 11 years now, yeah.
– It’s been a long run and things are kind of in a frenzy right now with so many people trying to get into homes, not a lot of inventory. So, the question is, this is the consensus question from our followers, what are some of the biggest mistakes borrowers make when trying to purchase a home?
– Biggest mistake, flat out, is not getting pre-approved upfront. In this market, as competitive as it is, you really want to have your ducks in a row. You want to have that preapproval in hand, if not, a loan commitment from your lender, hopefully a local lender. You want to make sure your credit’s in place, your income’s good, you have the assets needed for a down payment, in addition to closing costs, because right now in this market, we’re not seeing a lot of seller concessions with how competitive it is. Sellers are able to actually get more than what they’re asking for in a lot of cases.
– So, when you say get their house in order, let’s drill down on that just for a moment. What in particular can they do to make sure their finances look the way they’re going to need to look in the eyes of an underwriter?
– Well, when they go ahead and to approve, obviously, we’re gonna do a credit check on them. We’re going to obviously look at their income. Specifically right now, with what we’re going through with COVID, there’s been some guideline changes. If you’re self employed, it’s not as easy as just showing your last two year’s tax returns. We’re going to have to show a year-to-date profit and loss. There’s been some changes that have gone into place because we need to make sure that you’re making the income this year, not just what you filed last year. So, it’s really good to dive in on those things and make sure that we’re confirming everything.
– Now, you say it’s a sellers market. That means homes are going like hotcakes. I got to ask you the million dollar question, in the middle of a pandemic, how is that possible?
– Low inventory. You got low inventory and you got a lot of buyers on the sidelines looking to jump, so when houses go on the market, usually on social media when we scroll through, we see realtors posting things, the open house this weekend’s been canceled because it already went under contract before they even had an open house. So, you got a lot of buyers, low inventory. It’s going to drive the prices up.
– Yeah, not to mention one other big factor, interest rates.
– Interest rates are at an all-time low.
– Historic lows, right?
– Yeah.
– Those folks that own a home now, it’s a great time to refinance. It’s just increasing the buying power for the folks that are looking to buy their first house.
– Lastly Bryan, I’m want to ask you about one of the really big no-noes when purchasing a home, that’s purchasing a big ticket item during the process. Why is that such a big deal?
– Well, you never want to really do that when you’re getting approved for a house, an underwriter doesn’t want to see a new debt pop up that could affect your qualification. So, if you can hold off on buying the new car or the new boat or anything like that that’s not needed, you don’t want to do that during the process and jeopardize the chances of getting the new house.
– Bryan, really appreciate your time on NFM TV and helping us kick off Viewpoint.
– Good to be with you, Greg. Appreciate it.
– Bryan Harrison, Branch Manager, extraordinaire. At the company, as I mentioned, 11 years. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV. Hope you’ve enjoyed Viewpoint. We’ll talk to you soon.