Many first time homebuyers feel excited to purchase their first home, but do not know where to start. They ask questions like ‘What is the first step? Who do I talk to first? How much money do I need to have?’ Well, dear renter, we are here to answer your questions. For those looking in the near future to buy for the first time, here are three simple steps to get start on the home buying process.

Jon Lucas is a mortgage adviser at Ikon Mortgage in Dallas, Tex. He is passionate about educating people – especially first-time buyers – on what to expect and how to be prepared in the home buying process. The key is to be ahead of the game and there are many ways you can be on top of the process.

“Organization, Promptness, and Communication are critical,” Lucas said. “That’s on all levels – the loan officer, the borrower, the real estate agent, the title company. If we’re all coming into with this mindset, then we’ll really get things done.”

1. Saving Money

Not only should you be doing this on a regular basis anyways, if you’re looking to a buy a house in the near future, you need to have money set aside for the down payment. The way you move and handle your money will also be inspected when you’re trying to buy a home, Lucas said. He added that you want to create a good history of income, be a good record keeper, and have your tax returns, W2s, bank statements, and paystubs handy.

“These are all things that you will have to provide upfront,” Lucas said. “So keep them accessible. With the finances, don’t move your money around. We need the money that’s in your bank account. Keep the same bank. Keep it consistent and don’t move it from account to account. This will also help with the speed of the process.”

He also mentioned that it’s important to keep a good record of anything you sell. That sofa you sold on Craigslist for $500, keep a record. The old vehicle you sold to your friend for $2,000, keep a record of it. The lender will need proof of where that money came from. Be honest with your money, Lucas said.

2. Work on Your Credit

The first way to improve your credit score is by paying your bills on time. Lucas said even if you cannot pay the full amount of your bill upfront, always pay something and call to the creditor to work out a payment schedule. Don’t ever let any of your payments become delinquent!

“There is a somewhat of a hierarchy of how underwriters view types of credit,” Lucas added. “First on top, is mortgage. If you’re not making mortgage payments and you’re trying to get another mortgage or if you have missed payments within the previous 12 months, you are most likely not going to be able to get another mortgage right now.”

Second most important, he said, is car payments or other installment loans.

“If you have fallen into an economic hardship and absolutely must choose between paying your credit card or your car payment, pay your car payment and contact your credit card company, they are more willing to work with you than most people expect” Lucas said. “Car or Installment loans have more weight on your credit score and greatly affect approval odds for a home loan.”

Finally, your revolving credit cards are in third place because they hold the least amount weight. However, they still show how financially responsible you are and should be paid on time monthly. Even though they are ranked third, expect your credit card history to be critically examined during the qualification process.

“Don’t ever close credit cards!” he said. “Leave them open because that’s going to leave you more available credit, which lowers your overall debt ratio.”

Of course, the best way to handle credit cards is to keep the balances low, ideally under 10 percent. You want to keep as many lines of credit open as possible, Lucas added, while being responsible. It does not hurt your credit score to have multiple cards. The more that you can prove you’re a responsible money-manager, the more it’s going to help improve your score. However, once you start hitting the 40-50 percent bracket for expenses on your credit card, you will see a dramatic decrease in your score.

Finally, be sure to not make any big purchases and don’t run your credit a bunch of times in search of new lines of credit. You will have to explain each inquiry on your credit report. Lucas suggests using a consumer report source, such as Credit Karma to monitor your credit. However, he advised that Credit Karma is not a substitute or as accurate as a financial institution credit report. It’s best used to keep an eye on score to see if it is moving up or down, as well as, monitor your accounts.

3. Employment

“Steady employment is huge,” Lucas said. “Don’t quit your job or move to a new one… we like to see consistency. This is what it’s all about. If we’re basing it off a 30-year loan, we need to ask ‘Is this person consistent?’”

Of course, every person and every situation is different and Lucas understands this.

“If you work in the same line of business, but move to a different company in the same industry to make more money, who wouldn’t do that?” He said. “If you change industries, become self-employed or start commission-based salary, you’ll have to wait 2 years until we can use that work history.  First job out of college is different, though. if you’ve been to your first job for a year or a year and half, that’s fine. We can use your college as previous work history, or Military service.”

If there are dramatic increases in pay between your two jobs – for example, jumping from $30,000/year to $150,000/year – Lucas said that may or may not be used in the home-buying process. When you have those kind of big increases, they need to see that it’s permanent. Additionally, if you are self-employed, the Underwriter needs to see a consistent two years of income.

“The biggest issue we see with self-employed borrowers is when they say, ‘I make $100,000’ but they write off $80,000. I have to use the remaining $20,000 as their income,” Lucas said. “If your business isn’t profitable or you are too generous with write-offs it will be difficult to qualify for a home, so keep that in mind when doing your taxes. This is where honesty and transparency comes into play. Your money has to be in the system to get a house.”

And finally, Lucas added that if you have good employment and good credit, but coming up with a down payment is difficult to buy your house, you can use money gifted to you by a relative (not a best friend). They’ll just have to take a look at the gifter’s bank account as well.

“We use gift funds a lot, especially for first time homebuyers,” Lucas said.

Final Thoughts

All of these basic steps are intertwined on many different levels and one step is not more important than the other.

“You could be in the same job for 20 years but if you don’t have money for down payment and closing costs, then you’re not going to get a loan,” Lucas mentioned.

He recommends using the Three C’s of Credit as a guide for preparing and sustaining home ownership.

1. Character – Willingness to repay
2. Capacity – Ability to repay
3. Capital – Collateral used to repay if primary source of income is lost

Also, be sure to have realistic expectations of what you’ll find for a home. Many people, Lucas said, try for too much and push their limit, when they should really take a step back and get something that’s comfortable, affordable, and will not put them in a potential financial burden. It is crucial to get pre-qualified before you start looking at houses.

The bottom line is this: save money, work on your credit score, keep a consistent job, stay in communication with your lender, be realistic, and have fun!

Questions? Comments? Reach out to your First International Title rep today!

Real estate agents are constantly looking for new ways to gain leads and build business. This is necessary for those who plan to make a living as a realtor. Overall, there are two types of leads: paid and earned. Paid leads are exactly as they sound – you pay another person or online resource to find leads on your behalf. Although this saves an enormous amount of time and energy on the realtor’s part, these lead generation sources can end up costing a fortune.

Earned leads, on the other hand, are also highly effective and much less expensive than the paid ones. However, you will be paying for these leads, not with money, but with your time, energy, and dedication. How much effort you put into gaining your own leads generally corresponds to how much you will get in return.

Tom Ferry, a highly-ranked real estate educator, noted that in 2014, NAR reported 87 percent of real estate agents fail or quit within the first five years. We don’t want that to happen to you! We hope that with some of these tricks to earn your leads, our realtor followers will be in the 13 percent that are successful.

There are plenty of creative ways you can earn leads for free, but we’re going to focus on six to get you started: special events, networking, email newsletters, social media, taking advantage of resources already available to you, and thinking outside the box.

Through these six avenues, you should be able to expand your sphere of influence by a large margin. Your continuous goal should be to make new ‘touches’ every week and expand your influence in a way that makes people remember you.

Special Events
What is something you are passionate about? Take that and turn it into party! Begin hosting special events at your house, a local bar, in the park, or wherever you feel comfortable where the main attraction is something you’re really interested in. Regularly invite your family, friends, former colleagues, neighbors, members of your church or country club, and acquaintances.

For example, someone who truly has a taste for wine can have a Wine Share. He or she can invite their friends and family to bring one bottle of their favorite wine and everyone tastes and shares each other’s. They can discuss which ones they like, which ones they don’t like, flavors, texture, and notes they’re palate is sensing. Also, this is a way to save money as you only provide your one favorite bottle and maybe some cheese and crackers.

Special events are amazing opportunities to simply start conversations with those in your community. Host your events regularly enough that keeps people coming back and, hopefully, bring their friends to the next one. Eventually, you’ll get to the topic of real estate as you are consistently reminding these folks what you do: helping others buy and sell their homes. Always, always, always have information about yourself and your listings on hand to give out when the opportunity arises (and it will).

Networking
Strive to make new touches every single week by attending networking groups and other social events (that you’re not hosting). This can include art shows, charity events, book talks, happy hours, craft fairs, and networking groups that meet regularly. Network with both the general public and other real estate professionals.

Having a difficult time finding a networking group? Simply get on Google, Eventbrite, or Meetup and search for “real estate networking” or “real estate classes”. The amount of classes and events available to realtors is very encouraging. Seriously. Go look it up now!

Again, always have your information on hand and be ready to take others’ information as well.

Email Newsletters
Begin an email database, whether you use Excel or an online tool such as Constant Contact, where you can keep track of everyone’s email address that you come into contact with. Send out a weekly or bi-weekly email newsletter to these emails you have collected over time. This keeps you in the forefront of their minds as they see your name constantly pop up in their email.

Highlight your listings, upcoming open houses, your special events, recent testimonials or success stories from past clients, and anything else happening in your market or area. Try not to send out a newsletter more than once a week or else risk overwhelming your followers. But really, who has time for that anyways?

Social Media
Everyone talks about social media because of one reason: it works! By now, you should already have a Facebook page, whether it is a personal one or professional business page. You know the importance of being on social media, so we’re here to encourage you to engage your followers.

Simply having a page is not enough. Again, you want your followers to remember you. Do this by asking them to comment on your posts, promoting your special events, posting Facebook live videos, and asking them to share your content. You could even do a photo contest where the best photo wins a gift card or have your followers like and share a post to win a random giveaway. The possibilities are endless.

Take Advantage of Your Resources
There are countless resources already available to you simply for being a real estate agent. You could not even have made one sale yet, however, classes, events, mobile apps, and other software are there for you! It’s up to you to seek out these opportunities.

First International Title offers real estate courses every month and other various events. Seek out your local office for upcoming classes and other resources available to you!

Think Outside the Box
It’s time to get creative. Ask yourself some questions. What are some local businesses you could potentially partner up with? Is there a divorce lawyer nearby who could refer their clients selling a home to you? Are the local banks willing to work with you with buyers applying for a home loan? What are some other ways you can get creative with the opportunities at your doorstep?

Leave Your Fear at the Door
Don’t be afraid to go looking for new ways to gain leads and don’t be scared to ask others for help. Every First Western/International Title office has a business developer dedicated to helping you find ways to grow your business. Reach out to us with any questions and we would be happy to help you brainstorm!

Use a variety of these tactics and others that you come up with to grow your business. Don’t focus on one idea because it can only get you so far. Your earned leads can be highly effective but will take a large amount of time, energy, creativity, and your dedication. Are you dedicated?

Questions? Comments? Email shannonw@firstwesterntitle.com

So, you’ve decided to sell your home. Maybe your family has outgrown the house or maybe you need to downsize. Whatever the reason, organizing a successful open house should be a goal for sellers and real estate agents alike. After checking out the local competition, there are several ways to ensure you host a strong open house and, fingers crossed, receive an offer shortly after.

Tips from the Experts
Deb Wells is the owner of- and realtor for LivingWell Properties, based out of Prosper, Texas. According to their website, Deb “specializes in guiding home sellers towards a successful sale.” Wells is an Accredited Home Stager with over twenty years of entrepreneurial experience. She said the main purpose of an open house is, literally, to get a lot of people through the door.

An article from the home-improvement channel, HGTV, suggested that you can’t have an open house without preparing a property description sheet to give all of those people. If you have an agent, he or she should be willing to do this. If your open house is a DIY, you can create a simple description sheet in Microsoft Word or something similar. It should highlight important selling points or need-to-know information, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, asking price, total square footage, recent maintenance or upgrades, and any special features that separate your home from the others, wrote Annalisa Burgos.

Learn to Stage Your Home
Wells, who loves to help her clients prep their homes for selling, said that, most likely, those who are attending your open house will also be stopping by multiple other homes the same day. Your house needs to stand out from the others.

“Your house needs to be looking the best and presented in its best light,” Wells added. “That’s really what staging does so that when [potential buyers] walk through the door, they are pretty impressed. We stage all of our listings. I think it helps our listings stand out from the crowd.”

Burgos also touched on this point, stating that your home “must be spotless and clutter-free.” She said you need to fix what is broken, make smart choices when upgrading, and place your furniture in a way that makes the rooms feel the most spacious.

Make Sure Everyone Knows
“Top real estate agents tap their extensive networks to target buyers and get them into their clients’ houses,” Burgos wrote. “Unless, you too, are well-connected, getting the word out about your open house can be a challenge.”

She suggested using every method of communication: phone, email, postcards, social networks (schools, churches, etc.), social media, advertise online, post flyers on public bulletin boards, and many others. Also, don’t forget to put that professionally-printed “For Sale” sign on your front lawn.

Wells also expressed the importance of getting the word out.

“You have to get lots of attention on it, lots of advertising,” Wells said. “It needs to be posted on lots of online portals, Facebook posts and ads, so people can see it and draw a lot of attention.”

She also suggested that sellers really need to have a “draw” to the open house, whether you do a giveaway at the end or serve food and drinks (why not both?). You need to give your buyers a reason to stay, look around, and engage. For realtors, especially new agents, Wells said engagement is crucial. She considered this to be a free lead generations source.

“Most people who walk through the door don’t have an agent,” Wells said. “This is the quickest way to get business.”

Follow up
Finally, Burgos recommended sending a “Thank You” email to everyone who attended your open house.

“Within the following week, call each person and ask if they have any questions about the house and if they are considering it,” She wrote. “If not, thank them and ask if they have any suggestions on how to make the house attractive to other buyers.”

There are countless ways for sellers and their agents to give a memorable and outstanding open house. With guidance, time, and a little extra care, you can sell your house – hopefully for more than the listing price.

Questions? Comments? Email shannonw@firstwesterntitle.com