Sprint Home
We’re halfway through the Spring housing market, traditionally the most popular time of year for homebuying. You might be noticing more and more homes are coming off the market, as the listings that you starred earlier in the spring are getting snapped up by eager homebuyers.
Are you serious about buying a home this spring? If so, it’s time to make your move.
That means more than making your decision. It’s also about moving quickly. Speed can be a huge asset to a homebuyer. And it’s not just during the Spring that you can use speed to your benefit in buying a home. Speed can help you land the home you’re dreaming about.
Fortunately, Rate has a suite of products that make buying a home quickly a breeze. PowerBid Approval, Same Day Mortgage and the free Rate App were designed to have you moving faster than other buyers in the market.
Why you’ll need mortgage momentum
Before we get into the specifics of how you can sprint through the homebuying process, you may be asking yourself “Why would I want to buy a home fast?” Not only does moving quickly shorten the amount of time you spend with all the worries that buying a home entails, it also helps if you find yourself in a competitive or changing situation.
When speed helps in home purchasing
- Beat your competition
- Stay ahead of market conditions
- Line up timing with the seller
- You need to move
Beat your competition
As mentioned above, when competition is high for a limited supply of homes for sale, moving quicker than other homebuyers can help you get the home you want. If you’re moving fast, you can make an offer and have it accepted before other visitors get their lender on the phone.
Stay ahead of market conditions
As anyone who’s paid attention to mortgage rates and home prices over the last few years, things can change quickly in the housing market. If you’re concerned that mortgage rates or home prices in your area might go up soon—a local loan officer will be able to help you understand these variables—then moving quickly can help you potentially save thousands by getting you to the closing table before major market shifts.
Line up timing with the seller
One of the best ways to make your offer stand out is to make sure that your timing for closing on the home lines up with the seller’s. If they need to close on their old home so they can close on their new home soon, and you can offer a timeline that allows them to do that, they may prefer your offer to another one, even if the other offer is for more money.
You need to move
This is the reverse situation of the one just described in which you find yourself in a situation where you need to move. Perhaps it’s because you have to relocate for a job or you put your home up for sale and it sold much quicker than you were planning. For whatever reason, not having a place to stay is a good incentive for moving fast through the mortgage process.
Six ways to move fast
Rate has made breakthroughs in recent years in order to speed up your mortgage experience. We’ll get to those in a second, but when you combine our products’ power with these strategies, you can prepare yourself to move lightning-fast all the way to the closing table.
Here are some proven ways to speed up each step of your homebuying journey.
1. PowerBid Approval
Getting pre-approved should be the first thing on your to-do list when you decide to start shopping for a home. Pre-approval gives you a clear picture of what you can afford and shows sellers and agents that you’re serious about buying. It is a conditional agreement between you and your lender that means you will likely be approved for a mortgage.
Not all pre-approvals are the same, however. PowerBid Approval from Rate is a fully-underwritten approval that can compete with cash offers. And it’s fast, too, with priority turn times to help you become a power buyer overnight. Start your search with PowerBid Approval.
2. Find an agent who understands you
Once you have your pre-approval in hand, the next thing you should do is find a real estate agent to work with. An experienced agent, loaded with local knowledge and experience, can make a ton of difference in how quickly you can get home. But in order to get to warp speed, you need to have a great working relationship with your agent.
Start your working relationship with an in-depth conversation where you lay out your goals for moving quickly through the process. Your agent needs to understand not only that you want to move fast, but also understands what you’re looking for. This will help him or her narrow down the home options to show you, so you don’t waste time looking at properties that you’d never make an offer on.
3. Get to know the process
In order to move fast, it helps to know the steps of the process that will be coming your way. This way, you’ll know exactly what information you need to have ready and when. The six main steps of the mortgage process are:
- Loan is submitted to processing
- Loan is submitted to underwriting
- Loan is conditionally approved
- Loan is clear to close
- Closing
- Loan has funded
4. Bid strong
When you find the home that you want to put an offer on is when things start to get really serious. So long as you have followed the previous tips, you’re well on your way to a quick closing. But your offer still needs to be accepted to get to the home stretch.
In order to increase the likelihood of the seller saying yes to your offer, make sure you make a strong offer. You want to lower the likelihood of a counteroffer or negotiation. So you may consider offering the asking price, or higher, and waiving some contingencies to make your offer more attractive.
5. Have your documents lined up
Applying for a mortgage is famous for the amount of paperwork it entails. You should be prepared to provide the following documents – perhaps multiple times – during the application process.
- Proof of income
- Evidence of assets
- Contact information for your real estate agent, lawyer, inspector and others
- Tax documents, including W2s and tax returns for multiple years
- Information about past employers
One way that you can stay ahead of all of these requests is with the Rate App. This puts our digital mortgage at your fingertips at all time, so that you can provide the necessary information that your loan officer needs as soon as it’s requested. You can download the Rate App for free.
6. Same Day Mortgage
Finally, our Same Day Mortgage can put your homebuying journey on warp speed. You can use this amazing tool, which you can also find in the Rate App, to get approved in one day and close in as few as 10 days.
When paired with PowerBid Approval, you can move as fast as cash and compete with anyone in the market.
Get moving
In today’s digital, fast-paced world, we’re used to instant gratification. Buying a home has long been a throwback to a more slow-paced time. It wasn’t that long ago that lenders and agents were faxing documents back and forth. (Some may still.)
While taking your time can also have its benefits, moving fast through the mortgage process can make all the difference in getting into the house you want quickly, or not at all. That’s why we’ve built our system to move as fast as it does, to help you reach your homeownership goals.
Applicant subject to credit and underwriting approval. Not all applicants will be approved for financing. Receipt of application does not represent an approval for financing or interest rate guarantee. Restrictions may apply.
Savings, if any, vary based on the consumer’s credit profile, interest rate availability, and other factors. Contact Rate for current rates. Restrictions apply.