Mortgage / Home Loans

Yes, yes, and yes! Getting pre-qualified helps put the purchasing power in your hands. When you get pre-qualified, you learn exactly how much house you can afford and you know that amount before falling in love with a place that is out of your budget. It's our number one recommendation to avoid home heartbreak.

The first step in buying a house is determining your budget. This calculator steps you through the process of finding out how much you can borrow. Fill in the entry fields and click on the 'View Report' button to see a complete amortization schedule of your mortgage payments.

If you've ever purchased a home before, you may already be familiar with the benefits and terms of title insurance. But if this is your first hoe loan or you are refinancing, you may be wondering why you need another insurance policy.

The answer is simple: The purchase of a home is most likely one of the most expensive and important purchases you will ever make. You, and especially your mortgage lender, want to make sure the property is indeed yours: That no individual or government entity has any right, lien, claim or encumbrance on your property.

The function of a title insurance company is to make sure your rights and interests to the property are clear, that transfer of title takes place efficiently and correctly, and that your interests as a homebuyer are fully protected.

Title insurance companies provide services to buyers, sellers, real estate developers, builders, mortgage lenders, and others who have an interest in real estate transfer. Title companies typically issue two types of title policies:

1. Owner's Policy: This policy covers you, the homebuyer.
2. Lender's Policy: This policy covers the lending institution over the life of the loan.

Both types of policies are issued at the time of closing for a one-time premium, if the loan is a purchase. If you are refinancing your home, you probably already have an owner's policy that was issued when you purchased the property, so we'll only require that a lender's policy be issued.

Before issuing a policy, the title company performs an in-depth search of the public records to determine if anyone other than you has an interest in the property. The search may be performed by title company personnel using either public records or, more likely, the information contained in the company's own title plant.

Once a title is issued, if any claim covered under your policy is ever filed against your property, the title company will pay the legal fees involved in the defense our your rights. They are also responsible to cover losses arising from a valid claim. This protection remains in effect as long as you or your heirs own the property.

The fact that title companies try to eliminate risks before they develop makes title insurance significantly different from other types of insurance. Most forms of insurance assume risks by providing financial protection through a pooling of risks for losses arising from an unforeseen future event, say a fire, accident or theft. One the other hand, the purpose of title insurance is to eliminate risks and prevent losses caused by defects in title that may have happened in the past.

This risk elimination has benefits to both the homebuyer and the title company. it minimizes the chances that adverse claims might be raised, thereby reducing the number of claims that have to be defended or satisfied. This keeps costs down for the title company and the premiums low for the homebuyer.

Generally, only income that is reported on your tax return can be considered when applying for a mortgage. Unless, of course, the income is legally tax-free and isn't required to be reported.

You may be able to take advantage of our bank statement program. This program may require a larger down payment and have a higher interest rate than our regular mortgage rates.

A co-signed debt is considered when determining your qualification for a mortgage. If the co-signed debt doesn’t affect your ability to obtain a new mortgage we’ll leave it at that. However, if it does make a difference, we can omit the monthly payment of the co-signed debt if you can verify that the other person responsible for the debt has made the required payments, by obtaining copies of their canceled checks for the last twelve months.

If you're selling your current home to purchase your new home, we'll ask you to provide a copy of settlement or closing statement you'll receive at the closing to verify that your current mortgage has been paid in full and that you'll have sufficient funds for our closing. Often the closing of your current home is scheduled for the same day as the closing of your new home. If that's the case, we'll just ask you to bring your settlement statement with you to your new mortgage closing.

Generally, the income of self-employed borrowers is verified by obtaining copies of personal (and business, if applicable) federal tax returns for the most recent two-year period.

We'll review and average the net income from self-employment that's reported on your tax returns to determine the income that can be used to qualify. We won't be able to consider any income that hasn't been reported as such on your tax returns. We'll need a full two-year history of self-employment to verify that your self-employment income is stable.

If you will be working for the same employer, complete the application as such, but enter the income you anticipate you be receiving at your new location. If your employment is with a new employer, complete the application as if this were your current employer and indicate that you have been there for one month. The information about the employment you’ll be leaving should be entered as your previous employer.

Any outstanding student loan should be included in the application. If you are not sure exactly what the monthly payment will be at this time, enter an estimated amount.