Do we need to be pre-approved for a mortgage?

[Tom52]

DW and I will be coming to TV for the 3rd time this coming January. We hope to find us a home this trip for either snow-birding or maybe full time living. We are not very familiar with the intricacies of obtaining a mortgage in Florida. Is it necessary to be pre-approved for a mortgage ahead of a serious house search? If so can you recommend someone locally to contact?

We checked with our local small town bank and they would not make a 30 year fixed mortgage on a Florida property.

[B-flat]

We recently purchased a home in the Villages and used Citizens First here in the Villages. It was a painless process and Will mentioned we probably could have got a better rate shopping around since we’ve done business with 2 other banks in Central Florida but loan app, purchase and closing couldn’t have been any easier.

[tophcfa]

Everything else being equal, a cash offer with proof of funds is the strongest offer, an offer from a buyer pre-qualified for a mortgage is second, and an offer from a buyer that subsequently need to obtain financing is the weakest. It would certainly help to get pre-qualified and then limit your home search to houses within your qualified price range.

[Fredman]

You should get preapproved if you are seriously looking for a home. There are many mortgage lenders in the villages. We used citizens first and it was a smooth closing

[asianthree]

We didn’t, down payment and closing cost and then some in hand. We used our local bank on house #1, and citizens for #2 and #3. On preowned you can take your time closing. New home 30 days or there are extensive penalties

[birdiebill]

It is a good idea to be pre-approved if you are going to use a mortgage. If you buy a new home or villa here in the Villages, your closing must occur within a short period of time. I don't remember if it is 30 or40 days from the agreement to purchase. The developer sets the rules on new construction; no negotiation. While my only experience was with Citizens First Wholesale Mortgage here in the Villages, I know if you are approved by them, you will meet the closing deadline. This financial institution is "owned" by the developer for whatever that is worth.

If you buy pre-owned, you may be better able to negotiate a closing date and other terms. To each his/her own as to new or pre-owned.

[Arubagirl33]

Citizens bank is in The Villages. You could start there. Get ready to compete with all the cash buyers out here. 5 years ago we were told it was over 60% and it’s even higher today. Makes No difference what price range either.... I know of many properties $650 - $900,000 cash, gone in days!

[Cobh521]

It is best to be prequalified or preapproved. Your sales representative can set up a meeting with Citizens bank for you. You do not have to use them, however if you purchase a new home you must close in 30 days. Citizens can do that. Some other places cannot

[JoMar]

As I remember, you have 30 days to close after signing a contract. Citizens bank can usually meet The Villages requirements. If you are using another bank...it will be a tight schedule.

[Tom52]

OP here again, should have mentioned we will only be looking at existing homes. Does Citizens First also handle mortgages on existing homes since they are owned by the developer?

[kathyspear]

We have bought and sold many homes and we often arranged our loans through online mortgage companies and over the phone.

If you go to Bankrate.com and put in some numbers you will get a list of mortgage companies and their lowest rates. (Most brick and mortar banks will have slightly higher rates, but if you feel more comfortable doing things in person it might be worth it to you to pay a tad more.)

The cheapest rate/fee combination we found with the online mortgage companies was a company in NY called "Better". We are actually going a different route for complicated reasons but if we had gone with one of the online companies I would have applied with Better.

Good luck and happy house hunting!

kathy

[manaboutown]

Mortgage money is a commodity. It pays to shop around. I have successfully used this site to get the best deal I could find. LendingTree - 1-800-675-5153 (https://www.lendingtree.com)

[Dan9871]

OP here again, should have mentioned we will only be looking at existing homes. Does Citizens First also handle mortgages on existing homes since they are owned by the developer?

By existing home do you mean a pre-owned home, i.e. not a new home sold by the developer?

Citizens is just a bank an will make loans on both new homes and pre-existing homes.

As far as being pre-approved I don't think that matters much on a new home... but keep in mind once you sign on the dotted line you will have to close in 30 days an pay some pretty big penalties. If you cancel you won't get your earnest money back but might be able to apply it to another new home.

When we came down to buy we did not get pre-approved and all the we need to do was give a check with the earnest money for a new home to seal the deal.

For a resale, that is not a new home, being pre-approved will probably give you a better chance of having your offer accepted so if you are looking for a resale getting pre-approved is a good idea but not necessary.

Citizens bank is one of the few banks around here that you can depend on closing in 30 days. By the way Citizens Bank is owned by The Villages.

[Joeg180]

OP, be prepared have your documents with you when you are here on your visit.
Be prepared that if you decide to build your design phase can take up to a week.

We looked at existing (both pre-owned and developer spec) homes. If you decide to build you have several days of going over every detail of your build, then review and contracting. Also you aren’t the only ones going through process with the designer. We were able to pick out our selections quickly, but the process still takes time.

Our closing date was assigned when we signed off on the contract.

[Fredman]

OP here again, should have mentioned we will only be looking at existing homes. Does Citizens First also handle mortgages on existing homes since they are owned by the developer?

Yes

[jpvillager]

Defiantly get prequalified. Mortgages are a lot messier these days in that there is a lot of back and forth with the bank on them needing more info and documents as you progress. Could make meeting a tight closing schedule more difficult. We have had several mortgages with Citizens and were very pleased. However, last time we refinanced they would not equal the rate given to us by Bank of America. We switched to BoA checking years age when we wanted a one "local" bank in two different states. I believe BoA is the only national bank there. A lot of people bad mouth BoA but they work for us.
Prequalifing will put you in a better negotiating position, and give you peace of mind. It may also give a good estimate on closing costs. Also remember that rates are on the rise and you should know at what rates you and will be are qualified at. I don't know but would assume you are qualified for only so many days or months.
Good luck.

[Tom52]

OP again, thank you all for the information so far. To clarify we will be looking for a pre-owned home. It appears that I should wait until late November to early December to contact a mortgage broker since we will not start our search before January. It would be very inconvenient to try and arrange a mortgage once arrived in TV if all financial documents are 1200 miles away.

I may contact Lending Tree on line or maybe check with a larger CU such as Pentagon Federal to learn about timing and to see what we need to qualify for a loan. I think it may be a little problematic since we have relatively low income. We do not yet take SS benefits, but have plenty of investments that can be drawn upon to show income streams. I am sure there will be some "hoop jumping" required on our part.

[Dan9871]

OP here again, should have mentioned we will only be looking at existing homes. Does Citizens First also handle mortgages on existing homes since they are owned by the developer?

Yes, Citizens Bank handles mortgages on houses owned by the developer. BTW, Citizens Bank is owned by the developer.

Also Citizens Bank almost always gets things done in time for the 30 day closing the developer requires.

You can only buy new homes (what you are calling existing homes ) from Villages Properties, which is also owned by the developer.

[Carla B]

We sold our condo in South Florida to a buyer who lived in Michigan. The buyer insisted on using his neighborhood PNC bank in Michigan for the mortgage. PNC was completely flummoxed by this transaction; they had never before financed a condo in Florida. They kept insisting on more and more documents from the condo association, so much so that the closing was delayed by a whole month and resulted in a great deal of frustration for everyone.

I understand that issuing a mortgage on a condo may be more complicated than on a single-family house, but if you use a bank from outside Florida you should know in advance exactly what paperwork is required.

[Buffalo Jim]

Tom52 : Retired banking exec here . Sent you a long , detailed Private Message . Didn't want to take up this public space with so much info .
Best to you on your search and purchase .

[HandyGrandpap]

OP here again, should have mentioned we will only be looking at existing homes. Does Citizens First also handle mortgages on existing homes since they are owned by the developer?

The agent i used from Franklin TN with Franklin Synergy was John Misky. 615-310-2687. He closed for our home in the villages. He is the best I have ever worked with and stays on top of all of the details as the process evolves. I have closed on numerous homes over the years from transfer and up/down sizing. His rates are consistently lower than what I could find from any other lender.

[kathyspear]

It would be very inconvenient to try and arrange a mortgage once arrived in TV if all financial documents are 1200 miles away.

When we bought our current winter place near Tampa we were spending the winter at another FL condo. Getting that mortgage was a nightmare because my financial papers were all up in PA. I spent about a week of my life calling insurance companies and mortgage companies and county tax assessors etc. in order to come up with all the papers the mortgage company required for the two properties we owned at the time. As someone else mentioned, the mortgage process has gotten considerably more complicated since the housing crash. Be prepared to be tortured!

kathy

[Retiring]

The OP asked about being pre-approved and the thread replies are about pre-qualified. I believe the two are oranges and apples. Maybe a retired banker on this board can explain the difference.

If I’m a seller and a buyer comes to me pre-qualified, it means nothing. If a buyer comes pre-approved, let’s talk.

[rjm1cc]

If I was selling my parents home I would probably want to sell it as soon as possible and not want not want to risk poor credit on the part of the buyer or a bad inspection report from the mortgage company. Now if I was having trouble finding a buyer I would take the risk.

[thetruth]

DW and I will be coming to TV for the 3rd time this coming January. We hope to find us a home this trip for either snow-birding or maybe full time living. We are not very familiar with the intricacies of obtaining a mortgage in Florida. Is it necessary to be pre-approved for a mortgage ahead of a serious house search? If so can you recommend someone locally to contact?

We checked with our local small town bank and they would not make a 30 year fixed mortgage on a Florida property.

Check what I am saying.

First of all a ore-approved mortgage means little or nothing. You supply the information. The bank does not spend money to verify the information you supply till you actually apply for the mortgage.
Our formerly local bank said they would do it BUT, they stalled on and on so we nevr got it from them.

We have excellent credit but having had a paid up mortgage etc we have little history. The fact is good credit is borrowing money and paying it back. No borrowing money does not get you a good credit rating.

We also used CITIZENS FIRST which as far as I know is owned by the villages. They were knowlegable and helpful.
Getting a mortgage is sadly amusing. There are rules that must be followed. As to amusining-we are no longer working. What we get from social security and a very small pension will not pay our bills the rest comes from savings. We needed to show more income to qualify for a morgage. Citizens first told us to get a statement from our brokerage that we have arranged to have them send a check for xxxxx every month. It was amusing. The brokerage told us they get this all the time. They even have a form for this. We completed the form, we got the mortgage and as the brokerage told us we cancelled the monthly withdrawal a week later-ALL THIS IS LEGAL.

Speaking of strange. The average age here is 70. They cannot hold your age against you. So a 70 year old can qualify for a 30 year mortgage. HUH? they will be 100 when they pay it off.

As to having come here 3x we did not buy until the fourth trip. As to snowbirding. We did not even consider it. Our parents on both sides had passed away. Our next door neighbor real trash was one of the reasons we were happy to leave. We escaped a 6% New York State tax, a 3% New York City tax, about 3x the real estate tax for a place half the size of what we now have.

[Buffalo Jim]

Check what I am saying.

First of all a ore-approved mortgage means little or nothing. You supply the information. The bank does not spend money to verify the information you supply till you actually apply for the mortgage.
Our formerly local bank said they would do it BUT, they stalled on and on so we nevr got it from them.

We have excellent credit but having had a paid up mortgage etc we have little history. The fact is good credit is borrowing money and paying it back. No borrowing money does not get you a good credit rating.

We also used CITIZENS FIRST which as far as I know is owned by the villages. They were knowlegable and helpful.
Getting a mortgage is sadly amusing. There are rules that must be followed. As to amusining-we are no longer working. What we get from social security and a very small pension will not pay our bills the rest comes from savings. We needed to show more income to qualify for a morgage. Citizens first told us to get a statement from our brokerage that we have arranged to have them send a check for xxxxx every month. It was amusing. The brokerage told us they get this all the time. They even have a form for this. We completed the form, we got the mortgage and as the brokerage told us we cancelled the monthly withdrawal a week later-ALL THIS IS LEGAL.

Speaking of strange. The average age here is 70. They cannot hold your age against you. So a 70 year old can qualify for a 30 year mortgage. HUH? they will be 100 when they pay it off.

As to having come here 3x we did not buy until the fourth trip. As to snowbirding. We did not even consider it. Our parents on both sides had passed away. Our next door neighbor real trash was one of the reasons we were happy to leave. We escaped a 6% New York State tax, a 3% New York City tax, about 3x the real estate tax for a place half the size of what we now have.

Statistically the average mortgage loan in the USA is paid off by one means or another -- usually a home sale within 7 years .
This " average term " is factored into the underlying business / financing principles which govern the operations of " The Mortgage Business ".

[Buffalo Jim]

The OP asked about being pre-approved and the thread replies are about pre-qualified. I believe the two are oranges and apples. Maybe a retired banker on this board can explain the difference.

If I’m a seller and a buyer comes to me pre-qualified, it means nothing. If a buyer comes pre-approved, let’s talk.

The " term " which a buyer and seller would be looking for would be what is at least internally called a
" Commitment Letter ". It is the end product of a pre-approval process .
It is usually very straightforward and clearly indicates that the issuing institution is committing to lend up to $X amount and at X rate for X years with a minimum of X% [ usually 20% ] down . And the " commitment" is good until X date .
All in about 3 paragraphs long and accompanied by required Federal and State legal disclosure documents for the Buyer .

[diva1]

Sure! They want all the business they can get.

[jblum315]

i got pre-approved by Citizens over the phone from New York 9 years ago. Totally hassle free and saved a lot of time and futzing around

[charmed59]

We used Wells Fargo, as they are my long time bank and can also be found in the Villages. We were able to get a mortgage tied down in 4 days, after the mortgage broker suggested by our Villages agent couldn’t nail down anything in two weeks. It was no problem closing in the remaining 2 week window.

My parents used Citizens, and found it a bit frustrating, but they did get their mortgage ontime.

For a pre-owned home, I found the sellers weren’t as interested in pre-approval as they would be in other places. I bought two houses here, one for cash, and the sellers never even asked where the money was coming from.

[petsetc]

I have bought (and sold) a few houses, including investment houses, during my lifetime. Except for cash, Citizens First was the simplest of all the transactions. As one of the previous posters mentioned, most of us with homes in TV are "unemployed" and I can tell you from a recent unpleasant experience in Virginia, that having assets and no job presents a real problem for mortgage lenders. Not so at Citizens since the majority of their mortgages are to the old and unemployed, they get it.

As a final comment, we found them to be competitive on rates, perhaps I could have shaved a few points with a lot of effort, but with the need to fund in 30 days, there was no need to jerk-around.

SO, get Citizens to pre-qual, pre-approve you, and happy house hunting!!!

[mtdjed]

We bought about 11 years ago. Thought I could get a good loan in Massachusetts for The Villages. Was used to loans needing a review usually taking a week or more. Did not work .Called The Villages. When I applied at First Citizens over the phone, I asked how long it would take to get the answer. I was told that it would take a while. I was approved 4 hours later. I am guessing if your record is good, it will be simple. Would not hurt to get it up front.

When we bought, we found that the process was simple compared to elsewhere. On new house even the price negotiation was simple. No negotiation was required. The price was the price.

[jedalton]

DW and I will be coming to TV for the 3rd time this coming January. We hope to find us a home this trip for either snow-birding or maybe full time living. We are not very familiar with the intricacies of obtaining a mortgage in Florida. Is it necessary to be pre-approved for a mortgage ahead of a serious house search? If so can you recommend someone locally to contact?

We checked with our local small town bank and they would not make a 30 year fixed mortgage on a Florida property.

we made the mistake of using local bank, they had no clue, missed closing date. wish we had used CFB

[suebu]

If you are shopping with a Villages real estate broker, and only looking at villages listings, then yes, citizens should be the bank you go to.
However, if you're using an MLS listed property, then you will be looking at listings outside of the villages group, and I'm not sure if Citizens Bank would be as quick if you are purchasing a home other than "theirs". Important to know the politics and rules of home buying in the villages. It took us awhile before anyone told us this, and fortunately it worked out ok.....we also used Citizens for our first home, and it was smooth. 2nd home in the villages was with Quicken Loans and it was an absolute nighmare. Would never go through that again. Good luck with your decision!


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