Maverick's Mortgage Map

Acquiring land is going to be your first step in building a home. There are many things which need to be inspected and researched before making an offer on a land, that’s why it is especially important to work with an experienced realtor if it’s your first time buying land. If you're going to be applying for a construction loan later to build on the home, you want to be sure that the land does not exceed 20 acres, and that the parcel does not have an existing home on the lot. If the lot you want does happen to have something like a mobile home on it, you have two options. The first is to remove the home before building. Your second option would be to short-plat the property, leaving the new building site on its own parcel. Give me a call if you have questions about a specific lot. The following information is about lot financing. Depending on when you plan to build will determine if you want to use a land loan or not. If you plan to build immediately after you ...

If you’re eligible for a VA home loan, it is seriously a great option! As I touched on in The Pillars of a Home Mortgage Application , there is no down payment requirement when purchasing a home and, you won’t need mortgage insurance. The only extra charge by the VA is their very reasonable Funding Fee, more on that below. There are also VA only options when you want to refinance your current VA loan, reach out to me if you’d like to know more about those. In order to help subsidize the 25% guarantee the VA gives on all eligible VA home loans, a funding fee is charged. That’s right, the VA actually guarantees 25% of the loan, that way lenders have less risk when working with a VA borrower, and therefore veterans are more easily approved and more veterans are able to own homes. The Funding Fee is a one time payment which you can pay at closing, or instead add to your loan. Depending on how much you decide to put down on a purchase or how much of the home value you want to ref...

If you haven’t yet, I suggest taking a look over The Pillars of a Home Mortgage Application before going on. Credit is important, I’ve written about who reports it, what a credit score is, and what reports you need to pay attention to. But could it really be the most valuable factor for your mortgage application?   There’s a few reasons why having the best credit you can when applying for a mortgage is beneficial, and they all point to getting you a better deal. Of all the tweaks and mortgage product variations, your credit is really what is going to put you in the best position, no matter what you want in your mortgage. I like to think about the parts of a mortgage like a test: you can try all different tricks to get the best grade on the test, but those who perform best have a strong history of study habits, and it shows in the end. You can’t trick a credit report, at least not legally, that is why it is so valuable to you and the lender. Your credit report shows t...

     When considering a new mortgage, it only makes sense that you review the same credit report that the bank/lender will use once you apply. There are three main credit reporting agencies which the majority of home lenders pull credit from when you apply for a mortgage, both when buying and refinancing. FICO® scores based on reports may vary between the three, but your middle score of the three is typically used when qualifying for a mortgage.           The term FICO® scores and Credit Reports are interesting, read on if your curiosity is strong right now, or skip to the next section to continue. FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) was founded in 1956 by an engineer and mathematician. At this time credit cards were gaining popularity, and the credit limit to offer somebody became increasingly difficult to determine, especially if the one applying was in a different geographical region. Think about this, befor...