So you have selected the mobile home of your dreams, and now you are just looking for the right way to finance it. The process does not have to be difficult, but there may be some differences that you should be aware of. Here are seven steps that you can take to improve your chances at a successful mobile home financing.
1. Do I have my purchase agrebent?
The first step to buying a particular mobile home is to commit fully to the one that you want. The amount of money that you need to be financed will vary wildly with the type of mobile home that you pick. You may also need funding for upgrades to the home. The purchase agrebent is your official offer to a seller to buy a mobile home.
2. Am I ready to apply for the loan?
You may want to get a preapproval before signing the purchase agrebent, but you may not know exactly how much you need. If you happen to have a property type in mind that tends to be within a certain range, then go to your lender beforehand to get preapproved. You will likely be able to get your purchase agrebent accepted by the seller more quickly with a preapproval.
If you choose to take this step second, go to the bank after you give your purchase agrebent to the seller. Make sure that your finances are in order and your credit is as good as it can be.
Smart borrowers will always apply at many lenders, not just one. The business of lending is one of the most competitive industries in the world, and you will always benefit by making as many lenders as possible compete for your business.
Make sure that you have at least two identifying documents along with your W-2 pay stubs and at least two years of tax records. You may also need a copy of your earnest money deposit check and references if you do not have a long credit history to show to the lending officers at the bank.
3. What do I do after the loan application?
After you finish the process of applying for the loan program for several lenders, you will need to accept the one that you like the best. You should only do this after you have compared each of the loans on many levels including the interest rate, the time frame, the prepayment penalties, and the other terms that will affect how much money you pay over the life of the loan.
You may want to apply for real estate loans at different types of institutions including large banks and small, local credit unions. You may also want to try different time periods for your loans so that you can compare the amount of money that you will be spending for a 30 year mortgage plan as opposed to a 10 year mortgage plan. Although the extended period may help you in terms of individual loan payments, the amount of money that you save by shortening the total loan term may make more sense for you.
4. How do I lock in the approval?
Once you have decided on the loan that most agrees with you, you will need to submit to a home appraisal and home inspection. Although you may have been approved as a borrower, the lender also wants to make sure that you are not overpaying for property that cannot be sold for a comparative price if you default on the loan. Because of this, part of the closing costs will include the fees for a third-party home appraisal and home inspection. If both of these events go well, then you can move forward to the next step without a problb.
5. What is a contingency list?
Once all of the professional inspections have been made, a buyer will usually bring together a contingency list for the seller. This list comes from the findings of the home inspector, who will have been looking for any repairs or maintenance that needs to be done on the mobile home before the move in. Buyers will usually negotiate with sellers as to the responsibility for these repairs. The seller has the option of offering money in place of some or all of the repairs. If this monetary offer is accepted by the buyer in place of the repairs, then it will usually be factored into the price of the mobile home, lowering it by that amount.
6. What happens at closing?
Once the contingency list has been approved by both the buyer and the seller, both parties will move forward to the closing table discussion. This discussion will finalize all of the negotiations that have been made previously. All of the parties who need to be paid for their services will be made whole at this meeting, and all of the relevant documents that transfer the property from the seller to the buyer will be signed and witnessed by a notary public.
7. When are the funds distributed?
Assuming that everything goes well at the closing table discussion, the lender will distribute the funds to the seller that finalizes the transfer of the deed. All of the relevant documents will then be recorded in the official records of county and state authorities. At this point, the mobile home will be officially transferred from the seller to the buyer.
2 Point Highlight
The business of lending is one of the most competitive in the world, and you will always benefit by making as many lenders as possible compete for your business.
If this monetary offer is accepted by the buyer in place of the repairs, then it will usually be factored into the price of the mobile home, lowering it by that amount.
