My fiance and I are going to buy a house. We have at least $8000 for a down-payment. I know that isn't a lot, but it will be fine. We are hoping to buy a house for <$150k with a 30 year mortgage. Once I start my full-time job after graduating May 2019, we will be able to pay the mortgage at a much faster rate, so the difference between a 30 year mortgage and something less is negligible, and we'd like the longer one for a lower monthly payment.
I am confused as to how we shop for lenders. We've talked to a bank and we've talked to Quicken. Both gave us generic estimates (ranges) on the rate. I understand that the rates fluctuate daily.
Questions I have: 1) should we get pre-approved before walking through a house, or does it not matter? 2) should we get approved by multiple lenders and go with the lowest rate? and will this affect our credit? or is there a time period for how many hard hits during that time only count as one? 3) if we don't have multiple lenders run our credit, how can we accurately know what rates we'll be getting and negotiate with them? 4) when/how do we "lock-in" a rate with a lender?
Submitted December 29, 2018 at 10:50AM by mediocreworkethic http://bit.ly/2ESr80I
