You Don't Need Perfect Credit to Buy a Home Today

Daily I hear in the media that Banks are not lending and you need to have Perfect credit to get a home loans. This is not true. Yes, minimum requirements have gone up, but when I look at what is actually takes for a First Time Home Buyer or a average person to get a loan it is not much harder. I think the general public remember 2005 when anyone could buy a home or refinance. Back then borrowers who had credit issue and lower credit scores did not want to wait to improve their credit scores because if they waited a month to improve their credit scores the home they wanted to buy was already off the market and the next property sales price went up 5%.
I think back to how easy it was back in 2005 to get a client a loan and think about the clients I have not been able to approve today. With respect to credit I do not see this to be as big of an issue as you might think. Most of the people who are not being approved today could not have been approved in 2005. Borrowers have to wait today if they have credit issues and I counsel them to improve their credit scores. This process can be as quick a a week or up to several months but it is worth it when the borrowers can get the best loan for them. Credit scores are forgiving given there is some time from when delinquencies are reported. Borrowers today are much better at knowing their own credit scores because of the online credit tracking and fraud prevention programs. Anyone who is thinking about buying a home or refinancing in the next year should talk to a Loan Officer and review there credit. We all know having the good credit scores is important, but knowing how your credit scores are effecting your borrowing power is more important.
Here are a few quick tip that can improve your scores.
Pay your bills on time
Keep credit card balances under 30% of the credit limits
Don't open new credit cards to take advantage of 0% offers. Reed the fine print of those offers to see what "transfer fees are"
Don't have more than 3 credit cards
Don't Co Sign For Anyone. unless you are controlling the monthly payments and you are making them.
Try to avoid using 'Finance Companies'