st louis home buyers
Contary to popular belief the first step in buying a home in St. Louis is not calling your favorite Realtor and asking to see a bunch of properties. The first step is to get approved for a loan.
Here’s Why…
Getting approved for a loan takes more time today than ever before. A good offer in this economy has a quick closing date. In many cases, I can save you $1000s of dollars if you are willing and able to close soon. Lots of the properties I show are vacant. The sellers are anxious to get a contract and close. But if you haven’t applied for your loan with your lender, you cannot close quickly.
The St. Louis Mortgage lender you choose can give us a good feel for your “credit-worthiness” with just a short phone call and a credit check. But he cannot give us a final decision unless you have submitted support documents that back up your financial story.
I’ve been working with a young couple for a few weeks that has a number of student loans. In order to qualify, these student loans need to be placed in deferment. Rather than potentially wasting my buyer’s time (and mine) looking for houses, we need to get the loan approved. Supporting documents for the deferment must be put in place.
The security of having a full credit approval allows the buyer to shop with confidence. Further, it strengthens any offer put on a property.
Category : finance &First Time Homebuyers in St. Louis &Mortgages St. Louis &Moving to/from St. Louis &St. Louis Real Estate Buyers
The Stewarts -- First Time Homebuyers, no credit
Here’s a problem that you don’t think about very often… Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. Boy and girl find a nice apartment together and pay all of their bills on time. Happy couple opens no credit cards and pays cash for cars because girl’s Dad told them the horrors of consumer debt. Happy couple decides it’s time to buy a house. Sad couple is declined for loan because they have no credit.
No credit is just as bad as bad credit!
So what do you do if you find yourself in this unfortunate predicament?
First step is to open a credit card and buy your gas and groceries on it. Pay it in full every month. Maybe get a card with an airlines frequent flier reward program — that way you can rack up a few miles while you use the card. By doing this, you will begin to build credit — good credit!
Second, you make sure that your Realtor has provided you with a great referral to a competent lender who can help you deal with this strange situation. I use Matt Eversgerd at First Integrity Mortgage Services. Matt and I are working a transaction right now with the Stewarts — they want to buy a home in Webster Groves. We found them a cute house in Tuxedo Park– $199,000. Upon pulling credit, this young couple has no scores. Matt is in the process of building a credit score for them. Because First Integrity Mortgage Services has in-house underwriters, they are able to put together a decision quickly. If your lender’s underwriting team is located off-site (which is how 95% of mortgage brokers operate), files have to be mailed back and forth for approvals. Matt will be able to get the Stewarts approved for this house. He has never failed me.
Third, you need to have a Realtor who has dealt with these types of problems before. Not all Realtors are good — in fact, the typical Realtor only sells 2 or 3 houses a year. They cannot possibly have the experience necessary to deal with problems that pop up — and problems often pop up!
My team of Realtors has decades of experience, we sell a ton of houses, we’re ranked in the top 1% of Realtors in St. Louis. Call me. 314 267 2636
Category : First Time Homebuyers in St. Louis &Lenders in St. Louis &Mortgages St. Louis &Moving to/from St. Louis &St. Louis Real Estate Buyers
If you currently are in a situation where you must sell your home and you owe more on your home than what it is worth to sell, a short sale can be a very good solution to your problem. Many myths have evolved over time, but understanding today’s reality is a way to help yourself. Seven short sale myths are:
- Short sales are impossible and never get approved. It is true that short sales are more difficult but they are not impossible. A Certified Distressed Property Expert has extensive training to help homeowners in distress.
- Banks Don’t Accept Short Sales. In reality, banks are doing whatever they can to avoid a foreclosure.
- You must be behind on your mortgage to negotiate a short sale. Many lenders today focus on verifiable hardship, monthly cash flow shortfall and insolvency – not just people in default.
- Buyers Avoid Short Sales. Many agents report that buyers call them looking for short sales. Short sales are becoming synonymous with a “good deal”, specifically with international buyers.
- Listing your home as a short sale is embarrassing. Recent estimates state that 1 out of 5 homeowners in the U.S. is in this situation. You are not alone!
- Banks prefer to foreclose. Banks do NOT want to foreclose. Banks, investors and the federal government have all publicly stated that if a person qualifies for a short sale, then the deal needs to be considered.
- There is not enough time to negotiate a short sale before my foreclosure. Many lenders today will stall a foreclosure up to the final day of the process, with a legitimate contract.
Category : Home Buyer and Seller Tips &Lenders in St. Louis &Moving to/from St. Louis &Short Sales in St. Louis &St. Louis Foreclosures
12185 Parkwood Place, Maryland Heights, MO 63043
You’re house doesn’t have to be on the market forever! Nolting Real Estate specializes in internet marketing that captializes on the lastest technologies.
The National Association of Realtors research has concluded that more than 85% of buyers use the internet to find houses. Their research also notes that the typical Realtor spends more money on print advertising than internet advertising — 7 times more on print!!
At Nolting Real Estate, we respect the research — we spend our marketing dollars in the right place. We have poured 10s of thousands of dollars into our websites. We pay for search optimization. We blog daily. We use websites, like our St. Louis Home Listings website, NoltingRealEstate.com, to syndicate our listings all over the web.
In other words, when you list with Nolting Real Estate, we will publish your listing all over the internet on more than 100 sites, each catering to a different demographic. For example, we publish our listings on immoble.com, the #1 site on the Internet for multilanguage real estate. This Maryland Heights home was listed on Immoble.com. It may seem excessive, but what if a buyer from Germany needs to move to St. Louis? Shouldn’t he have the opportunity to buy your house.
And our results are fantastic. The Russell Nolting real estate team is one of the fastest growing Realtors in St. Louis. Call me today at 314.267.2636…who knows…maybe we’ll be blogging about your house in a couple of weeks!
Category : First Time Homebuyers in St. Louis &Home Buyer and Seller Tips &Moving to/from St. Louis &Real Estate Sales in St. Louis &Relocation to St. Louis &St. Louis Real Estate Sales Statistics