Financing Your Home

Interest rates hover near record lows and it’s never been easier to finance your home purchase—whether it’s your first home, a vacation property, or a retirement countryside villa.

The steps to financing involve understanding  how much house you can afford, settlement and closing costs, and access to current lending rates. Get started with an understanding of qualification, preapproval, approval and lock.

Qualification

Qualification is an opinion that your income, assets, and current debts qualifies for a loan of an estimated amount from a lender, real estate agent, or of your own assessment. Credit scores are not factored into a qualification and there are no commitments.

Preapproval

Preapproval is a conditional commitment by a lender for a loan amount before any specific property has been identified. A lender will verify your information and check credit. While a preapproval will imply a loan amount and monthly payment, usually the loan type and price are not included.

Approval

Approval is a commitment by a lender to make a loan. A specific property is identified with an approval and all details of the loan are described. Loan type, down payment, and documentation are included. With an approval is a loan interest rate but subject to change. With approval on a property the expectation is to purchase.

Loan Lock

Lock is a commitment by the lender to a specified price including the rate and points. With a locked interest rate you are guaranteed that if interest rates go up by the time you are ready to close, you will pay the lower interest rate.