Before you start house hunting in Tampa Bay, it is always advised that you FIRST speak with a great lender. This way you know ahead of time exactly what you can afford, how much you will need to budget monthly for your mortgage and related expenses, as well as give you and your Realtor® realistic parameters when searching for homes in the right price range. The last thing you want is to fall in love with a home, place an offer on that home, and then find out afterwards that buying the home will not meet your budget requirements. Also, in today’s heated market place, with limited inventory available, it always makes your offer look stronger to the seller when we present it accompanied with a pre-approval letter from your lender. This gives the seller confidence that the transaction will go through.

Some questions you will want to ask when interviewing a lender:

• What fees are included in the loan?
• What fees will be due at closing?
• How long will the rate you are offering on this loan be locked in?

Check out our handy graphic below for a thorough list of questions to ask, or download the pdf by clicking here.  And as always, feel free to reach out to us anytime if you’d like us to recommend some reputable lenders we have worked with in the past.