Beginning a search for a new home is an exciting one. It's fun to look online at all the homes at various price points, visit open houses or drive around with a Realtor and discover new neighborhoods. But, at a certain point you will want to get serious and unless you are a cash buyer, you must be pre-approved for a home loan. Knowledgeable sellers and experienced agents do not take buyers without home loan pre-approval seriously; resulting in you missing out, particularly in competing contract negotiations.

Getting pre-approved/pre-qualified for a home loan is an inevitable reality check and discovery process ALL (non-cash) buyers must go through. It lets you know what you can afford, current interest rates, terms, your monthly payment, down payment and estimated closing cost. Without this information, you cannot make a wise real estate investment. Smart investors plan. You are about to make two purchases, a home and a home loan. Familarizing yourself with different home loan products will ensure when the perfect house comes along you can quickly move forward with the appropriate loan in place. Getting pre-approved for a home loan sets the rules of the engagement and gives your Realtor insight into what homes will qualify for the loan that you have selected and how to negotiate your contract.

You may know you'll be approved, but this too can be a dangerous assumption. Not all home loan products (mortgages) are created equal. After reviewing your options there is a good chance you will learn about home loan products available that will better suit your financial needs and or you might need to adjust your expectations.

My advice is stay ahead of the game and align yourself for the best outcome; get pre-approved before you begin any home search. Let sellers and Realtors know you aren't just a tire kicker. Show up with a home loan pre-approval and I promise you will be taken a lot more seriously.

You hear these words repeated in real estate all the time but what does it really mean? Is it just real estate agents trying to be cute? No. It's single handedly the most important aspect of purchasing real estate. Location, location, location can typically be
identified by one simple element in every city all over the world. Identifying this 'element' takes enormous talent, experience and insight. If you purchase in the best location your property will retain more value and appreciate better over the long term versus the opposite.

Think of it this way, the biggest movie of the year is about to be released in theatres. You've got tickets, waited all day in line, and now you are first in the theatre. What seats do you choose? Most choose somewhere in the middle of the theatre. As the sold out theatre begins to fill the seating selection gets worse. When the first settlers or developers come into a new area, where do you think they chose? Typically it's near water, proximity to passages (roads/waterways), views and/or vegetation. From there community ammenities such as parks, schools, shopping, golf courses, restaurants all begin to be built around these fabulous locations creating very desirable lifestyles for the community members.

Not everyone can afford to buy in the French Riviera or right here in Nichols Hills. Location, location, location is the #1 real estate rule to investing and applies to all price points so don't be disappointed if you can't afford that million dollar mansion in Gaillardia. The best location for your price point is right here in the Oklahoma City Metro or your home town.

After you buy your first home, you'll inevitably fall into property virgin pitfalls.  One of the biggest things to beware of is that your newly signed wet ink deed becomes a matter of public record immediately. Thus, hundreds of companies, salesman and con-artist/scammers watch the new court house filings daily to solicit new home owners with all their wonderful products and services. You'll begin receiving tons of official looking mail, phone calls and door to door visits. Few tips:  Never pay to obtain a copy of your deed. The title company will mail you the original one after it is recorded on public record and certified copies can be obtained at the courthouse for a nominal fee.  Another offical piece of mail notifies you that a new mortgage company has bought your loan but the current mortgagee doesn't notify you it's been sold. Don't start paying the new mortgagee until the old one verifies this is true. These are two big ones, but there are lots of cons out there trying to take money off of unsuspecting people. When in doubt call your agent, lender and/or title company to verify if it's legit. Here is a recent email I received from an extremely savy client who ignored her better judgment just briefly:

There was an envelope left on my door when we moved in. It said "sorry
we missed you."
Enclosed was a flier that has a guy's phone number, name,
and a weird area code. It also said "Authorized ADT dealer." So I
called him and from that instant i knew he was a salesmen, a really
good one. I wasn't on guard at all, so he went ahead and got all my
information including my ssn and wanted to schedule installation like
right away, I couldn't because of various reasons, and also so I could
shop just in case. The rate was $44 a month no installation fee, no
contracts. Good thing I did, I called TNT, and they had a way better
rate but with installation fee, and 3 year contract.... which is
understandable. I wanted to cancel and didn't have his cell
with me, so I called ADT's 1-800 number and I went through 2 corporate
departments and then to Oklahoma City's managers office, to find out
he was 3rd party.  So dug up his cell and called to cancel, he
picked up like he was already mad. I told him I needed to cancel and
he scolds the following words to me "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME." Just
lectured me on how stupid I was for not going with a name brand that
someone knows. He just went on and on. Turns out later, when TNT came
to install, the installer met this guy and said he just seemed like
all sorts of shady and was based out in Moore. So, a lesson learned on
my part. Don't do anything door to door, don't ever buy from a
"fantastic" salesmen (because they are soulless creatures), and never
give out your SSN. I know he's already sold my phone number and email
addresses, I'm getting offers from cruises and Nigerian princesses.
So, if you could educate the next ignorant first time home security
participant maybe we can put him out of business.