What You Need to Know About the Mortgage on Your Dallas Home

The real estate market is recovering. Home prices are going up and mortgage rates are slowly rising, making right now a prime time to enter the market for many home buyers. However, before you purchase a Dallas home, knowing the ins and outs of a mortgage is of paramount importance to your family’s finances. Keep the following in mind and consult a qualified mortgage broker to get headed in the right direction.

• One common mistake home buyers make in regard to their mortgage is making the calculations of the total cost based on the interest rate of their mortgage. In fact, according to Fox Business, the total cost of your mortgage is calculated with your annual percentage rate (APR). APR is an all-encompassing rate that not only takes your mortgage interest rate into account, but also your points, mortgage insurance, underwriting fees and origination fees, which gives you a much more accurate number when calculating total costs for your Dallas home.

• Another misconception about mortgages, particularly mortgage rates, is that they are only released once every day. Keep a constant eye on mortgage rates and stay in contact with your prospective lender, because rates can change dramatically throughout the day. Make sure to do your research and consider shopping around at several lenders.

• Another reason to shop around is that not all lenders charge the same amount of money for their services, a fact that is commonly mistaken. If a lender is looking to make a deal, it’s a possibility that they might waive most of the initial fees for you. Conversely, if a lender is getting a lot of business and can afford to, they might charge you more for their services than other lenders.

• Getting pre-approved for a loan is an essential step of the home buying process. However, just because you get pre-approved for your mortgage with one lender doesn’t mean you can’t get a mortgage through another. A pre-approval is meant to simply give you a ballpark estimate of what a lender would loan you for your Dallas home—it creates no obligation to get the mortgage from that lender.

For more information on mortgages or the pre-approval process for your Dallas home, please don’t hesitate to contact us at your convenience.