The FIVE BIGGEST
MISTAKES I see Mortgage Borrowers Make – Everyday . . .
After 10 Years in the business
I have seen and heard just about everything. Some of the
more colorful mistakes have ranged from borrowers quitting
their jobs the week before closing for no good reason all
the way to buyers walking away from otherwise great home
purchases because the sellers took their aluminum
mini-blinds when they moved out. Outside of these rather
unusual mental lapses there are some common mistakes that
an astonishing number of borrowers make. I share these with
you in hopes that you can learn what NOT to do from their
cumulative experiences.
The run away winner for biggest flop to pull before the
mortgage process even starts is just old fashioned burying
your head in the sand. Closing your eyes hoping a bad
situation gets better almost NEVER works. We see, at an
alarming rate, borrowers coming to us with their collective
financial affairs on fire with almost no explanation for
how it got so bad so fast. Life catches us all off guard
from time to time, but for your own sake get it front of
these “life challenges” as much as you can and as fast as
you can. Hopefully, this will be before you are so far
behind you can’t possibly catch up. Of the unfortunate few
that I talk to that I can’t get loans for, I could have
certainly helped a good number of them if they had just
called me 30-45 days QUICKER. The lesson here is to stay
ahead of your troubles – we have all been there – we saw
the warning signs and we hoped against logic and advice
that it was going to some how get better. So, in short, DO
NOT wait until it is too late to call me.
The runner up for next most consistent deal killer can be
lumped into the financial aftermath associated with
divorces and separations. Almost everyone who has gone
through this process ASSUMES that when you bring half a
dozen different, licensed professionals and a judge into
the same process that somewhere along the way one of these
folks would have been watching out for your credit.
Unfortunately, that is NOT usually the case. I have too
often seen the look of utter shock on a client’s face turn
quickly to furry when they found that their x-spouse had
let some piece of joint credit go bad and that her
otherwise perfectly groomed credit had just been completely
destroyed. To truly be parted from your previous spouse you
have to refinance each AND every bit of your joint credit
into whomever’s name is going to be the responsible owner
from that day forward. The obvious problem here is that
when credit is extended to two people it is not always easy
to transfer that responsibility from two down to one. Why
would a bank that extended credit to two able bodied
workers want to go and let one of them off the hook for
future payments? For you to ever be truly separate of your
spouse you have to include refinancing the disputed debts
as part of the separation agreement and don’t sign anything
until that is done clearly. And to take a little something
from the number one mistake – Do NOT wait until you are in
trouble before you start wading though this process. In
most separations you want as much leverage as possible and
if you are the one struggling it will only be that much
harder to negotiate for what is rightfully yours. I have
helped clients on a monthly basis get through this process
and have made sure their credit was taken care of – if you
have any questions just call me – 274-6999.
Coming in third place in our contest of classic credit
mistakes would be when money gets tight paying the wrong
bills first. The simple rule here is ALWAYS pay your
mortgages first. This includes any debt that is attached to
your home: Mortgages – Equity Lines – Second Mortgages etc.
Most lenders will gladly disregard late payments on credit
cards, some collections and even the occasional late car
payment, but when you start missing mortgage payments the
whole process gets MUCH more difficult and your options
start becoming more and more limited. If you can get to me
for some help before you have to miss your first mortgage
payment you will be FAR better off than if you wait until
you go 30 days late THEN call. Time is NOT your friend when
you find yourself behind on your bills – move quickly to
find help.
Fourth place easily goes to buying TOO much car. Financing
a car is very different from financing a home. I see way
too many potential home owners show up at my door with
$1000 or MORE in monthly car payments. In most cases these
big car payments drastically decrease a buyer’s ability to
afford what they want when it comes time to buying a new
home. I know cars are getting more and more expensive and a
decent one now days isn’t going to be cheap, but if you can
limit yourself to just one big payment instead of two you
will be far better off. Does everyone in the house have to
drive a new car? I don’t think so. Making the jump to
homeownership is for most of us the first significant step
to a better more secure financial future. Think
about it - There really aren’t that many millionaire
renters out there are there? Just because a car dealer is
willing to sell you a car and finance it for 7 years
doesn’t mean it’s a good financial move for you and your
family.
The fifth and final mistake is calling the wrong people to
help. Obviously, I am a little biased in this regard - I
would like everyone who needs help to call me first. There
are a number of different folks out there that pretend to
be out there to help and now days too many of them leave
folks worse off than they were before they met. If your
situation is already tight some of these crooks can take a
situation from difficult to impossible real quick. Before
you talk to anyone make sure you check out who they have
helped before look for testimonials from previous clients.
Look to see if they are a member of a national group – like
www.NARCLI.org.
I would love to help everyone who needs it, but
unfortunately I can only help so many folks each month.
That number tends to be around 6 or 8 depending on my other
responsibilities. The bottom line is that if you need help
please call us first my office has over 40 years combined
experience and if we can help you - we will do our honest
best to either do so quickly or put you in contact with
someone who can.
If you need help or just have
a couple of questions you can go to www.MoreCashLessDebt.com
or www.FirstAsheville.com
OR just call me directly
at 1-800-585-2091
OR
274-6999.
Here is what one recent client had to say:
“You didn’t just help
rebuild our credit – You helped us rebuild our confidence -
too!!”
You can go to www.MoreCashLessDebt.com
and hear it “live” for
yourself just click on the audio testimonial from Pam in
Hendersonville.
