How To Buy A House

Have you considered purchasing a new home but feel that your biggest obstacle is coming up with the down payment and timing your purchase with when your lease is up?  We’re very fortunate in the Wilmington, NC area that we have 100% financing available!

How Much Money Do You Need for 100% Financing?

If the seller agrees to pay your closing costs then you might need as little as $500 – $1,000 and your loan can be bought with a no money down mortgage.

How Long Does it Take to get a Loan?

Typically from the first moment you contact the lender to when you are sleeping in your new home is 30-45 Days.

What 100% loan options are there?

If you are a veteran then a VA loan might be a great option. Otherwise, another popular 100% mortgage financing loan option is a USDA loan. USDA is an option for some parts of Wilmington, Brunswick County, Pender County, Onslow County, and all the other counties in the Southeast North Carolina area.  If you don’t qualify for the USDA loan, there’s a community opportunity loan at First Citizens that allows your income to be higher than USDA.  If your income is still too high then there’s also a Down Payment Assistance program which can help you get in with as little as 1% of the purchase price!  100% financing home loans are also available at State Employee Credit Union. Well, we hope we’ve got in your mind that there are lots of 100% options.  100% mortgage financing options aren’t available at all banks, but we can help you find one that can help you.

100% USDA Loan Info and Available Houses

Here’s a link to a great webpage that gives you more information on qualifying for the USDA loan and also shows you what houses are available; this is helpful for returning home buyers and a 100% financing first time home buyer. USDA Loan

City of Wilmington Home Ownership Pool (HOP)

If you are looking to purchase within the City of Wilmington and meet their program requirements, then the HOP is a great opportunity!  This loan program is 100% mortgage financing with as little as $500 down for homes up to $224,000.  The best part is that it’s a very low interest rate and you can get 0% interest rate for 40% of the loan fixed for 30 years!  The requirements include a credit score of at least 620, cannot currently own a house, and income up to $38,200 for 1 individual in the household, or up to $43,650 for 2 in the household, or $49,100 for 3 in the household, or $54,550 for 4 in the household.  It increases more if you have more dependents in your household.  The first step for this program is to attend the FREE Homebuyer class.  It’s an all-day class and is available once a month. It fills up fast so sign up quickly! Here’s a link to their schedule.  After looking at the program requirements if you are interested here’s a link to their application.  Regina Drury Real Estate Group has helped a lot of first time home buyers with this program and believes it’s one of the best loans in the area!

Ok, you got your Pre-Approval done. Now what?

You got in contact with a lender and got your pre-approval.  Typically it doesn’t take much time and many times you get an answer within a few hours or less!  So what’s the next step?  Your lender will tell you what price range you approved up to or what price range to look at that will meet your target monthly payment.  The next step is to find a top Realtor!

How to choose a REALTOR

This is a really important step.  A top Realtor will be full time and will take the guesswork out of the process.  They will have a lot of experience with 100% financing home loans.  Think of the agent as your professional guide through the process. They will save you time, headache, and potentially money.

The Regina Drury Real Estate Group has expert knowledge of listing and selling property. They will focus on providing you a high level of customer service that will leave you with a lasting impression

Decide Where You Want to Live

Your Realtor can set you up with instant notices when houses that meet your criteria come on the market.  When searching for a house, be careful about using websites such as Zillow or Trulia because they aren’t accurate and don’t have all the available houses on their website.  When searching for a house, you want to use a website that is loaded directly from the MLS and has all the available houses in the area you want to buy a house.  You can see all the available houses for the entire Southeast North Carolina area on ReginaDrury.com.

Make a List of What You Prefer in Your New Home

Do you want a new house? How many bedrooms should it have? How many bathrooms? Does it need to have a garage? What school district do you prefer? Do you prefer a 1 story or 2 story house? These are all typical questions your REALTOR will ask you when starting the search for your home.

How Do I Keep Track of the Homes I’ve Seen

In a hot market if you find a house you like, don’t wait to put in an offer!  Many houses in a hot market are getting multiple offers and are going under contract fast!  Don’t feel like you need to see more houses before you make up your mind because waiting to see more could cause you to lose the house that you love.  When searching for a home, it’s best to narrow your selection down to 4 or 5 homes.  Seeing more than that can confuse you or worse you might start thinking if you could have that kitchen with that backyard with that master bedroom.  LOL

Make an Offer

Here’s where the stress starts! You want the house but you don’t want to overpay and you don’t want to lose the house. This again is where an experienced agent can assist you with what is a fair offer. Many times people ask their friends and family for advice but be careful about the advice.  What worked a few years ago might not be the same today.  In a hot market, it can be challenging to get a lower price or closing cost from a seller. Some areas houses may be going over the asking price! Your agent can help give you advice if they are in this business full time and know the market.

You’ll Need a Check for the Deposit

You’ll need to put a deposit down within 5 days of your offer getting accepted.  The deposit depends on the price range of the house.  For the 100% financing home loans option, we typically see a deposit of $500-$1,000.  This deposit will be given back to you if the seller doesn’t accept your offer, or you cancel before the end of your due diligence.

Ask for Closing Costs to be Paid

For 100% mortgage financing, this is a VERY important step! Your loan will cover the purchase price but you’ll still need $4,00-$9,000 for closing costs like attorney’s fees, appraisal, inspection fees, one year of insurance, taxes, etc.  Don’t be surprised if to get these closing costs paid by the seller that you might have to offer the list price or more!  Again, a great agent can advise you on what they are typically seeing in that current market so it can help you make a decision.

Appliances

Stove, dishwasher, and built-in microwave are included typically, but appliances like the refrigerator, washer, and dryer are items you’ll need to ask for if you want them.

Curtains, Curtain Rods, and Blinds

Curtain rods and blinds are included with the house if they are currently there. Curtains, however, you’ll have to ask for if you want them.

You’re Under Contract, Now What?

Congratulations you’re under contract! Next step will be to set up inspections! Your agent will recommend home inspectors that they typically have had a lot of experience with.  It’s your choice who you want to use. Your agent can set up the inspection times so that you can preferably be there.  Many of the inspectors prefer to be paid at the time of the inspection but your agent might be able to make arrangements for them to be paid at closing so that the money for closing costs from the seller can pay them.  Keep in mind that if they do the inspections and you don’t buy the house that you’ll still need to pay the inspectors.

Inspections

After a home has a home inspection and/or other inspections there will be a report sent to you and your agent.  You’ll review the report and then write up a request for repairs for the seller to do.  Keep in mind this is another negotiation. The seller might or might not agree to all of your requests.  In a hot market, the seller might say the house is sold as is. Usually, if it’s a sold as is, you’ll know during the original price negotiation.

Appraisal

Your lender will order an appraisal from a third party company. The house must appraise for at least the purchase price.  If it appraises for less than your purchase price you’ll need to come up with the difference or ask the seller to reduce their price.  If you can’t come up with the difference and they are not willing to reduce then you’ll have to terminate the contract.  This is another reason why it’s very important to work with an experienced REALTOR.  They will advise you before writing your offer on what the comps are for the house and will notify you if there could be an appraisal issue.  In a hot market when houses are going over their list price, this is something to be very careful about because you might win the bid, but then lose the house when it doesn’t appraise for enough.

Also be aware that an appraiser is not a home inspector but may look for certain issues such as missing roof shingles, a working HVAC, peeling paint on old houses, mold, water under the crawl space, etc.  If they find these issues they might note it in their report and with 100% home loans, these issues would need to be fixed to get the loan. Again, a great Realtor will already know all this and will let you know if they see an issue when you are looking at houses before you make an offer.

Final Walk Through

Great news you’re all set to close on your new home! The day before or on the day of your closing you’ll do a walkthrough to make sure nothing has changed in the home and to be sure everything is still working.  This is an important step because after closing the house will be yours so you want to be sure nothing has changed.

Congratulations: Closing on your Home

The day you go to closing you’ll sign paperwork but you won’t always get the keys at that time.  Keys will typically be given to you towards the end of the day after the bank has funded your loan and the attorney has recorded the sale at the courthouse.  Usually, by 4 pm this is all done and the home is yours!

Buying a house is a very exciting time!  Buying a house with 100% mortgage financing is also a great step toward building wealth for your future.

Please link our website https://www.reginadrury.com/ at the bottom and give us credit for writing it. Thanks!