http://homebuying.about.com/od/mortgagefacts/index.htm?terms=mortgage

tons of info. good thing to check out.

Home Loans%u2026.Where to start?

My cousin recently got married and during the reception I heard five different people ask him one question "when are you going to buy a house"? They didn't ask him about the honeymoon or how he met his new wife; no they wanted to know when he was going to jump into buying the most expensive thing he'll ever buy in his life. And this is a guy who has lived in an apartment for the last 10 years. Now, I work for a mortgage company and I wasn't surprised to get a call from him shortly thereafter but the first thing out of his mouth was very simple "where do I start?"

That was easy for me. I told him to find out what his credit score was and determine how much house he could afford and to call me back when he had this information and I could go over his mortgage options.

It turned out that he had credit problems and he was going to need some bad credit mortgage options. I told him that we had some solutions for him, we do a lot of bad credit home loans, and that first I needed a few things:

1. Social security number
2. Birth Date
3. Home Address
4. Job Information

Now, a good mortgage broker company can give you an idea of your options without this information as long as you have your (approximate) credit score and your price range. He knew me and so he wanted my company to do the loan but consumers should know that they can get some idea without having all their personal information turned over. It's very important to protect your personal information and check out each company's privacy policy. Usually this can be found on their web site (www.kmaloans.com/privacystatement.htm).

I told him that I was going to pull his credit and I would have approvals from a few lenders within 24 hours. That's really how it works. Aside from that, I would recommend that home buyers keep their options open and not tie themselves to one lender. Don't be afraid to shop around if you aren't comfortable and be organized with your credit scores and financial information. It will speed things up. Now, if you have a realtor and they recommend a specific mortgage company make sure you ask them why they are recommending them and how long the realtor has used them. If the realtor insists that you use them and only them then I'd say that is a red flag.

One last thing, if you are turned down for a home loan federal law requires the lender to tell you in writing the specific reasons for the denial. Don't just let it go