income
assets
credit
property

I tell my clients that its like a chair with 4 legs. You need all to be a decent length for it to work. If one is short but three are long, you’re still good.

I plan on going into detail on these at my blog pretty soon.

For income, you want 2 years job history in a similar line of work. Ideally the banks like to see one job. If you increased in income on your job changes, that’s a good thing to the bank.

Whether you’re a single parent, a married spouse, or a polygamist, banks are all looking at one thing: your debt-to-income ratio. If you can afford the house comfortably along with all your other bills, you should be ok.

You’ll want to put assets away in a bank account if you can. This is not always an option for some people, just do the best you can. Having a 401k or IRA will also help to get you an approval.

Your loan officer will pull your credit and determine exactly what you need to do to get qualified for a mortgage if you’re not already. Paying credit balances down to half of their credit limit will increase your score as well as paying off very recent charge-offs and collections.

Lenders love Single Family Homes. If your credit isn’t great try not to fall in love with a trailer or modular. Having a desirable property helps your approval.

If you can balance these four things you should be fine. Read my blog to learn more about what mortgage brokers do and how to set yourself up for an approval: http://explaintome.blogspot.com

Soon I’ll be covering this topic. Drop me an email or comment in the blog and I’ll let you know when it gets updated.