San Francisco Real Estate - Janice Lee

When consumed with searching for your new home, it's easy to forget one of the most important steps in the home buying process: arming yourself with a pre-approved mortgage loan. It's a commitment from a lender to lend to you with specifications on the exact loan amount you'll receive and it provides you with several advantages when purchasing a house, including: Establishing an advantage in a competitive market: Having a pre-approval letter provides you with an edge in a multi-offer situation. Sellers often prefer working with potential buyers who are pre-approved in order to avoid the threat of a deal falling through because the purchaser cannot get sufficient financing. In fact, a seller might accept an offer from a pre-approved buyer over a higher offer from a buyer who has not been pre-approved.

If you're in the market for a new house, you're probably in the market for a new mortgage. When considering your financing options, you'll want to review many different things about the loans offered to you. There are many different kinds of home loans available and understanding what you are offered by a lender is critical to knowing whether or not that financing option will work for you.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans are made by private lending intuitions such as banks, savings & loans, or mortgage companies to eligible borrowers for the purchase of a home. FHA insured loans offer a number of benefits for both lender and borrowers. Since 1934, the program has insured over 35 million home mortgages.

If saving enough for a 20% down payment will delay your home buying dream for years, you should consider your alternate options: An FHA Loan The Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, insures loans for qualified first-time homebuyers. With FHA backing, lenders can offer you a loan at a low interest rate with as little as 3.5% down.