Refresher Course

I know I’ve mentioned this already, but it’s one of those things that someone always misses, so I thought we’d revisit.

To most people who are beginning the process of buying a first home, or even making an upgrade, the first step in the process is to start looking for a house. I’m here to tell you, this is NOT THE FIRST STEP. Your first move, when deciding whether to purchase a house, needs to be a discussion with a lender or mortgage broker. Looking for a house before consulting the money professional is really putting the cart before the horse. It’s difficult for anyone (even your competent real estate agent) to tell what your price range is without quite a bit of computation, so it’s really just a bad idea to start looking and get yourself attached to anything until you know for sure what you can afford.

OK, and now while we’re on the subject, here are four mortgage professionals you can feel free to contact if you are thinking about buying a house:

Chad Peare – Hamilton Mortgage
email: cpeare@hamiltonmortgage.com
cell: 480-201-1234

Alisa Arnold – Century 21 Mortgage
email: alisa.arnold@mortgagefamily.com
cell: 602-826-5861

(Both of these are my in-house lenders who I have worked with and know personally. Both are very approachable and knowledgeable.)

Mick Askew – Transnational Financial Network, Inc
email: micka@transnational.com
cell: 602-510-3951

(Mick is an expert at repairing credit with problems and does lots of work in sub-prime lending, which is lending for less than ideal credit scores.)

Maria Gonzalez – Pacific Coast Mortgage
email: a-mgonzalez@cox.net
cell: 602-525-4347

(Maria is a Spanish-speaker and the mother of a friend. She’s very fun and totally approachable.)