Real Estate 101 - The Lender

(or How to Buy a House in Waco)

As a Realtor, I frequently get calls from people that want to own a home, but have no idea of how to go about buying one.  They might say, “I think I want to buy a house but I don't know what to do.”  Or, “I saw a house I would love to buy but I’m not sure where to start or how to do it.”  Or even, “Can I afford to buy a home?”  If you are thinking, “Yes!  That’s me!” you’re in the right place.  The question you should be asking is this: Can you afford NOT to buy one.  OK, here is dirty little secret number #1:  If you can afford to rent a house in Waco, you can afford to BUY one.  Let’s be honest, landlords don’t buy a house and then rent it for less than the payments, insurance, taxes and upkeep cost them.  They are making a monthly profit on that house (or apartment) you are renting — you could be putting that money in YOUR pocket, instead of theirs.  The only real problem in making the transition from a renter to a homeowner (doesn’t that word have a nice ring to it?) is this:  Can you come up with the necessary cash to buy that home you’ve always wanted? 

Since most of us don’t have tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank or in a sock under our mattress, we come at last to the real crux of home buying, which is also, conveniently, the starting point of the process of buying a home.  The home buying process starts with getting pre-approved for a loan (called a mortgage) with a lender.  Why start there?  Well, if unless you do have $100,000 in a sock under your mattress, you’re going to have to borrow it from someone willing to lend it to you.  And if no one is willing to lend it to you, there’s not really much point in shopping for a house.  If in fact you can’t find anyone to lend you the money to buy a home, a good loan officer should be able to point you in the right direction to get your finances in order so that you can buy that home you’ve always wanted.  The other reason for starting with the lender is that they are typically the slowest aspect of the entire transaction.  So it only makes sense to get them started on their part first. 

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