First Stop 4 Home Loans

We just completed another successful first time buyer seminar this past Thursday night.  That was quite the night of storms — thought we might be talking to a small, non-existent audience, but we got lucky and people “weathered” the storm!  I hope you all did too and thanks to those of you who did make the trek!

Every month, on the third Thursday, we perform an exciting light show with music and dance — okay, not really.  But we do present an evening of information so you can learn what you need to know before you get out and look at homes.  Please join us from 6:30-8 pm at the Cornerstone Mortgage office located in Burnsville at 436 Gateway Blvd. 

Steve Howe from Re/Max, and I, will walk you through the homebuying process starting with the first step … pre-approval.  That’s the step of getting your financing set up so you know you can actually purchase a home if you find one.  This is CRUCIAL in today’s market since, as a loan officer, I am seeing changes constantly on what investors are requiring to get a loan.  Come learn what the new changes are and come find out about the special programs you may be eligible for to help you afford your new home.

Steve will explain the home purchasing process and what you can expect from a Realtor.  He makes this process simple and easy to understand; whereas I just confuse you!  Just kidding.  Making sure you’re still reading!  He specializes in in helping first time buyers which is important since your needs are vastly different than a current homeowner.

Anyway, we’d love to have you at the seminar, whether it’s in July or our future classes.  And speaking of classes — this is NOT the Homestretch class that is required to qualify for the first time buyer programs.  You can see this as the Cliff Notes, but with additional information on the special programs that Homestretch doesn’t delve into.

Please RSVP with Cheryl to let us know how many spaces to save.  Can’t wait to meet you!  Oh and one pre-requisite … come with questions!

Oh no, the tax credit is gone!  Why would I want to buy a home?  A fantastic question that we will answer in this educational evening about buying your first home.  Please join Steve Howe, Realtor MN Real Estate Team, and me, on Thursday May 20th to learn the steps involved in purchasing a home.  The seminar goes from 6:30-7:30 pm and is located at the Cornerstone Mortgage office at 436 Gateway Blvd in Burnsville.  

Our agenda is simple — to educate.  Would we love to be your Realtor and loan officer … of course.  Do we make you feel like you HAVE to use us — no.  This isn’t a high-pressure seminar.  It’s a relaxed atmosphere where we hope you will learn a lot, get your questions answered and be able to make good choices moving forward in this process.

We will talk about the process in the order you’ll go through it, starting with pre-approval and ending with getting the keys to your home.  We will also discuss the available first time buyer programs and the many reasons why it is still the BEST time to buy, even without a tax incentive.

If you’re interested, please RSVP to clavey@houseloan.com as soon as possible.  We’d love to have you and look forward to sharing our knowledge.  Most importantly, come with questions!

As you may know, there are so many things available for first time home buyers — ending soon is the federal tax credit of $8000.  You need an accepted purchase agreement by the end of April and must close by the end of June.  There have been lower rates and of course, plenty of first time buyer programs.  One in particular is the Ramsey County FirstHOME. 

If you’re looking in Ramsey County, or I should say, the “suburbs” of Ramsey County, you could take advantage of a great opportunity.  If you’re looking in the city of St. Paul, then there is a different program you may be interested in — the CityLiving program.  But, if you want to live in one of the many cities* of Ramsey County, this may just be the program for you.

Available as an interest-free loan, is up to $20,000 that you can use toward closing costs and down payment.  There’s a few ways you can use this money to your benefit.  One, is to help your buying power.  The $20,000 may allow you to afford a larger home or higher sale price.  Speaking of sale price, the maximum purchase price on this program is $200,000.  Or, two, you could keep the price range you’re pre-approved for and bring your payment down.  Not a bad deal.  Did you know that for every $10,000 in price, it’s about $70/mo in your payment?

There are a few guidelines that are specific to this program.  Like all first time buyer programs, there are income limits.  These income limits take into account the total income from the household, not just from the person on the loan.  This even includes children 18 years or older that are working.  Along with this, there is a requirement that you have at least THREE years of working full-time.  The FirstHOME program is not a solution to help first time buyers coming right out of school to qualify for down payment assistance.  A year or so ago, a GREAT change occurred to this program — you no longer have to WORK in Ramsey County to qualify, which opens a lot of doors for more people to qualify.

You must attend the first time buyer Homestretch class overseen by the MN Home Ownership Center.  Even if you didn’t have to take this 8-hour course, I highly recommend it.  It will go over everything from the process with your loan, buying the house and even talk about “what ifs” as you’re a homeowner, such as foreclosure prevention.  And hopefully, with guidelines that are getting tighter and tighter, you won’t have the opportunity to get in ‘over-your-head’ with a house payment.  Trust me when I say, this is never my goal.  Sure, I want to help you get the house you want, but it should never be a the expense of you not being comfortable with or able to make the payment.

An interesting requirement for the FirstHome program has to do with ratios.  Ratios are a certain percentage of your GROSS income (pre-tax) that we can use toward your house payment (housing ratio) or your house payment and your other monthly debts (debt ratio), which ever is less.  For all practical purposes, we are limited to keeping your debt ratio under 45%.  In order to be eligible for the assistance, your “housing” ratio needs to be OVER 30% of your gross income.  The purpose then, for the assistance, is to bring your housing ratio down as close to 30% as possible.  If you are under 30% to start, then this program won’t work for you .

Wanna know something else that’s cool with this program??  How about the ability to use this WITH the MN Housing program, where you not only can get a lower-than-market rate,  but also could qualify for another $5000.  Yes, another $5000 — you could receive a total of $25,000 to use for your new home purchase.  Wowsers!

Anyway, this is a super program!   Let’s see if you can make these monies work for you while you’re still a first-time homebuyer.  If you want further information, please don’t hesitate to give me a shout or email.  I am here to help. 

*Cities eligible for the program:
Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Maplewood, Mounds View, New Brighton, North Oaks, North Saint Paul, Roseville, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights and White Bear Lake

Another month, another seminar frenzy.  It’s all about you — it’s in my Vision for You and truly is part of who I am.  To me, education is key to owning your first home.  Sure, I want to help you navigate through your first financing experience on a house.  The Realtors I work with want to help you find your very first house.  Business is business, right?  Partly.  As a team, we have an alterior motive — we want you to be as prepared as possible for buying a home.  So, to this end, I dedicate three nights a month to first time buyer seminars with the help of some very awesome Realtors.

So, what’s in it for you?  My hope is that you will walk away with a greater understanding of what the process is, how to get started, what programs can help with down payment assistance and other information to understand what you’re “getting into”.  There are many people out there, maybe you included, that have a desire to own a home, but hang in the shadows due to fear, credit challenges or even stories about your friend’s bad home-buying experience.  With something so big as buying a house, you do not want to go in blindly, not to mention work with people that don’t have the market knowledge and extensive resources for assistance.   This process should be educational, stress-free and believe it or not, fun!  I get reminded quite often while talking to people refinancing that lenders and Realtors are not created equally.  Not everyone gets to experience this knowing the facts, being given options on first time buyer programs or being led through the process.  Many of my clients who weren’t first time buyers with me were slammed into the system of homeownership without a clue about the loan they were doing, consequences of certain programs, and some were even put into loans that they didn’t have to be in. 

How would you like to get a grip on your first home-buying experience?  The awesome team I surround myself with would love to help “get your education on,” with NO obligation.  We’ll discuss the process from the first step of pre-approval to the last step of closing on your home and getting the keys!  Oh, and did I mention it’s FREE*?

I have THREE seminars coming up in March.  These are the same seminars, so feel free to pick the one that fits with your work or home location. 

The South metro seminars are on Monday the 15th and Thursday the 18th from 6:30-8pm at the Cornerstone Mortgage office located at 436 Gateway Blvd. in Burnsville.  I will be presenting these steps with trusted partners, Brandon Hedges — Homes of Minnesota Team, as well as Steve Howe – Minnesota Real Estate Team.  We will help you take that first step to home ownership. 

If the North metro is a better fit, then join us Thursday the 25th from 6:30-8pm at the Shoreview Community Center — 4580 Victoria St N #203.  This time, I have the pleasure of presenting with Steve, as well as Tony D’Agostino, also with the Minnesota Real Estate Team. 

Trust me — you will go away knowing so much more about the process AND will feel more comfortable now that you’re armed with information – info that many lenders just don’t share!!  Both will be a fun and educational evening. 

Please register by calling 952-808-0042 as space is limited.  Hope to see you there!

*ALL of our team’s seminars are FREE of charge. Cornerstone Mortgage is proud to be a drop-off site for the CAP agency, which is a non-profit organization that collects food items and gently used clothing for Scott, Carver and Dakota Counties. If you can, please donate a canned food item, baby food or clean clothing so we can continue to support the families in need in the communites we serve!

Did you know the government extended the first time buyer tax credit?  How about the fact that not all lenders offer down payment assistance programs or first time buyer programs?  It’s pretty amazing to know you’re essentially getting paid to buy a home.  Crazy, isn’t it?  There are many people out there, maybe you included, that have a desire to own a home, but sit on the sidelines due to uncertainty, lack of knowledge of the process or being gun-shy due to stories about another person’s bad home buying experience.  It doesn’t have to be this way!  Buying your first home should be educational, pain-free and believe it or not, FUN!  It’s sad how many people go through this experience without knowing the facts, being given options on first time buyer programs or being led through the process, not slammed into the system of homeownership. 

How would you like to get a grip on your first home-buying experience?  We’d love to help you navigate through this process — educate you, with NO obligation, on the steps you will take to become a homeowner — from the first step of pre-approval to the last step of closing on your home and getting the keys!  Oh, and did I mention it’s FREE*?

We have TWO seminars coming up in February.  These are the same seminars, so feel free to pick the one that fits with your work or home location. 

The South metro seminar is on Thursday the 18th from 6:30-8pm at the Cornerstone Mortgage office located at 436 Gateway Blvd. in Burnsville.  I will be presenting these steps with Realtor, Steve Howe, of the Minnesota Real Estate Team.  The two of us will help you take that first step to home ownership. 

If the North metro is a better fit, then join us Thursday the 25th from 6:30-8pm at the Shoreview Community Center — 4580 Victoria St N #203.  Again, Steve and I will be presenting.  This time we’ll be joined by Realtor, Tony D’Agostino, also with the Minnesota Real Estate Team.  Trust me — you will go away knowing so much more about the process AND will feel more comfortable now that you’re armed with information – info that many lenders just don’t share!!  Both will be a fun and educational evening. 

Please register by calling 952-808-0042 as space is limited.  Hope to see you there!

*ALL of our team’s seminars are FREE of charge. Cornerstone Mortgage is proud to be a drop-off site for the CAP agency, which is a non-profit organization that collects food items and gently used clothing for Scott, Carver and Dakota Counties. If you can, please donate a canned food item, baby food or clean clothing so we can continue to support the families in need!