Preferred Rate - Petaluma

All Preferred Rate offices are open! However, we ask that you kindly call ahead to make an appointment ahead of your visit.

This will depend on the seller’s terms. There are situations where this can be negotiated, but the keys are normally given to a buyer after the loan has funded. If you are trying to occupy your home before the loan funds, you will need to get that included in the contract. Talk to your real estate agent about early occupancy if you need to move into a home before it can close.

There are three steps in the closing process: 1. Going to signing, where those who are purchasing the home and the sellers sign all of the documents. 2. Those are sent back to the lender, who then agrees that it’s good to go and funding is approved. 3. Your loan records with the county/state. Funding is the actual act of the lender wiring the loan amount funds to the title company, who will then release the funds to the seller. Once this happens, the purchase will be recorded with the county. Once that is done, the buyer receives the keys.

If you’ve already completed the application, had your offer accepted by the seller, and are now in underwriting, you are still under scrutiny. Your credit, employment, and finances are being watched, and they will be checked until you close your loan. During this time and until the loan has funded and you’ve signed the papers, do not: 1. Open a credit card. 2. Buy a new car. 3. Change jobs, or quit your job. 4. Spend all of your savings. If you have a desire to do any of those things, wait until after your loan closes.

Depending on the terms in your offer, the seller usually has a short window of time to respond to your offer, either with a counteroffer, declination, or acceptance of your offer. Your real estate agent is your advocate in this transaction and will negotiate on your behalf, or decline a counteroffer for you. Getting your offer accepted is just one of many steps in the home-buying process.

You put in an offer! First, though, you should be preapproved. The preapproval letter is a great way to show the home seller that you’re serious and that you can back up your offer. Depending on the real estate market in your area, getting preapproved before you find a home may be a good idea. Either way, a preapproval is normally good for at least 30 days. After 60 days, your credit report, employment verification, and asset verification will need to be done again. In markets where homes are selling fast, you’ll need to make decisions and offer quickly, so get your preapproval done as soon as you’re serious about buying a home.

There are many things we take into consideration when evaluating a loan application. One main determining factor is your debt-to-income ratio. The debt-to-income ratio is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the amount of debt you have compared to your income. For example, say you and your partner make $7,000 a month before taxes (your gross income), but you have student loans, a credit card payment, and a car loan that equates to $1,000. That makes your current debt-to-income ratio would be 14. In general, you’d like to keep this number as low as possible. Your lender will show you what you can afford based on your debt-to-income ratio. Some lenders are stricter on where they’d like to see your DTI ratio. Some programs also allow for higher DTI, like the VA and FHA loan programs. The DTI is something we can help you calculate. Depending on your situation, you may need to pay off a loan or consolidate debt* in order to lower your DTI before you can purchase a home. These are all things we can help you with, so give us a call! * Preferred Rate - Partnered with American Pacific Mortgage does not guarantee that your debts will be lowered by a specific amount or percentage or that you will be debt-free within a specific period of time. A debt consolidation may increase your monthly cash flow, but may increase the amount of your debt over a period of time by including the additional debt in your mortgage amount, which is financed over a longer period of time than the debt consolidated may have been financed. We encourage all consumers to do their own research and examine their options carefully before selecting a particular course of action.

A mortgage loan, also referred to as simply a mortgage is a loan offered to a person/entity in order to purchase real property. A mortgage can also be used to place a lien on a property being mortgaged in order to raise funds for whatever reason. This is often referred to as a second mortgage.