For Those Househunting
Make sure to keep your cancelled rent checks if you have an apartment. Mortgage companies will most likely want to see a year`s worth of these such payments. Ours did, and our friend`s company did as well. It just seems to be standard procedure.
Also, save your pay stubs and all bank statements. Our mortgage company wanted a detailed look at how our money was moving in the year leading up to our purchase.
If anyone is going to give a large sum of money to help out, consult a financial advisor, accountant or tax professional regarding families 'gifting' large sums of money ($10,000 or more). Mortgage companies might require the gift giver to write a brief statement saying they gave the money.
A question you might want to ask mortgage companies before signing with them, is what their rate of sell-off is. We signed with First West, and when we asked them, they sort of blew off the question. After signing with them, my fiance found in very small print, the rate was approximately 75%. Before we even made our first payment, our mortgage was sold to Fleet. Because First West dotted every I and crossed every T, or mortgage is easy to sell, and was sold from Fleet to PNC, which is now Washington Mutual. This is annoying becuase you need to make sure the insurance is changed each time and it`s just simply a hassle keeping up with these changes (we`re on our 4th company in 14 months). But, from what my insurange broker says, sell-offs are becoming more common.
