First time to do mortgage loan. Any advice?

[Anonymous]

As title says. I'm thinking of getting a house after I paid my debt on my CCs so the report would show low usage, can someone brief me what I need to do as a first time? I have $41k Income, 760 EX FICO Score, $65k CC Limit, $16k remaining balance on my auto loan, 1 yr. Employment.

[Anonymous]

You might get more feedback if you post the info requested in this post- http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Mortgage-Loans/Do-I-qualify-for-a-mortgage-Info-that-is-needed/td-p/...

[Anonymous]

Start saving cash for down payment! Do not buy the home unless you can afford a 15 year note.  That is the best advice I can give you.  I started on a 30yr note @ 5% on a 120k mortgage and then I saw the difference in interest rate and refinanced down to a 15-year note @ 3.375% and my payment only went up $60 or so a month.  You get better interest rate AND you can pay it off in a more reasonable amount of time.  After 2 years in my house I have paid down my mortgage to $110,000 paying a little extra each month.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Start saving cash for down payment! Do not buy the home unless you can afford a 15 year note.  That is the best advice I can give you.  I started on a 30yr note @ 5% on a 120k mortgage and then I saw the difference in interest rate and refinanced down to a 15-year note @ 3.375% and my payment only went up $60 or so a month.  You get better interest rate AND you can pay it off in a more reasonable amount of time.  After 2 years in my house I have paid down my mortgage to $110,000 paying a little extra each month.

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Thanks, just curious, how much downpayment did you do? and what's the ideal downpayment?

[Anonymous]

I did a conventional loan so it required a minimum of 5% down.  All told, with closing costs, I had to write a check at closing for close to $8k.  I put down $6500 and the seller paid $3k in closing cost.  It took me a long time to save that $8k, but now my income has doubled so not as hard, thankfully.

[bdhu2001]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Start saving cash for down payment! Do not buy the home unless you can afford a 15 year note.  That is the best advice I can give you.  I started on a 30yr note @ 5% on a 120k mortgage and then I saw the difference in interest rate and refinanced down to a 15-year note @ 3.375% and my payment only went up $60 or so a month.  You get better interest rate AND you can pay it off in a more reasonable amount of time.  After 2 years in my house I have paid down my mortgage to $110,000 paying a little extra each month.

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Thanks, just curious, how much downpayment did you do? and what's the ideal downpayment?

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My loan last year was 30 yr and I put 20% down.  I refinanced this year to a 15 yr loan. It didn't require a new down. The ideal amount is whatever it takes to not pay PMI and get the lowest available fixed interest rate.

[Anonymous]

Yep! PMI is the devil.  My original loan had PMI and I refinanced out of PMI.  My original appraisal was $120k, and when I had it appraised for my refi, it appraised at $150k so I was at 78% LTV ratio which got me out of my $115 PMI payment.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Yep! PMI is the devil.  My original loan had PMI and I refinanced out of PMI.  My original appraisal was $120k, and when I had it appraised for my refi, it appraised at $150k so I was at 78% LTV ratio which got me out of my $115 PMI payment.

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Sorry but what does PMI mean?

[Anonymous]

PMI= private mortgage insurance.... required if you are putting less than 20% down.

[cartwrna]

They do have programs around it though (not sure if it's in all states). My state offers a 97% conventional. Only 3% down and no PMI. The trade off is a higher interest rate. I believe currently it's 4.5%, but payment plays out to still be less than if you were paying PMI.