5 Tips for Home Buying Under 'Know Before You Owe'

1.) It's still ideal for you to shop for loans and lenders before you have selected the home you would like to purchase. You should have a good idea of the specific type of loan you'd like to have and you should feel confident, after speaking with a few lenders, that you can obtain financing.

2.) Once you've found a property you love, the application process begins with a loan estimate. A lender must provide a Loan Estimate within 3 business days after you have selected a property and you have provided that information to the lender. This is where the new loan estimate is a real benefit to you! By comparing the same kind of loan across different lenders, you can use the new loan estimate documents to get a real apples to apples view of your choices.

3.) Now that you've found the best lender for your situation - all you do is let the lender know you'd like to proceed. That's it. Until you've indicated your desire to proceed, lenders can't charge fees like they used to, including application fees. These can only be charged by the lender you've selected once you've given them the green light to proceed with your application.

4.) Significant changes in your information, property information, or loan information, will require the lender to provide a new Loan Estimate. The lender may need time to produce new documents and will need to have them to you within three days of being notified of the changes.

5.) Your lender must have the Closing Disclosure to you three business days prior to closing. This will give you time to review the documents well in advance of closing. Any last minute changes three days or less before closing will trigger a push back in the closing date, but since such last minute changes are typically avoided, push backs in the closing date should be rare. For example, changes that would trigger a new 3 business day review period would include anything that increases the APR by more than an 1/8 of a percent, or a change in the basic loan product.

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For more guidance on buying your next home or if you have any questions about Know Before You Owe, give me a call at (512) 698-7877 or visit me on the web at www.russ-phillips.com"