2020 was an interesting time to be buying or selling a home. Because of coronavirus, real estate and mortgage professionals had to come up with innovative ways to facilitate the process while following the rules of social distancing.

But the industry rose to the challenge, and many people were surprised by how easy it was to buy or sell a house last year. If you are shopping for a home in Indiana in 2021, you may be wondering if there are any recommendations to help you make the most of the opportunities in front of you while avoiding potential pitfalls. Here are a few quick tips.

Tips You Need to Know Before Buying a Home

1. Do what you can to boost your credit score and reduce your DTI ratio. A lot of people had income disruptions in 2020. If you also missed workdays, you might have taken out loans to help you get by. Your work hours might now be full and stable again, but you should not forget that any outstanding loans you may have could be impacting your credit score and debt-to-income (DTI) ratio. If you are behind on any payments, this is the time to catch up. If you are able to pay off any loans, doing so might help improve your score and your DTI ratio. Reduce your credit utilization if you can and try to keep it low through the mortgage application process. Also, be sure and order one of your free credit reports and check it over for errors. Credit report errors are common even during “normal” times, and last year was anything but “normal.” If you find errors, you can submit corrections and have the negative entries taken off your reports. Grandview Lending also can help with the pre-application credit scrub to help direct you on a path to improve your score with the access we have to the simulators provided to us by the credit repositories. We can help people by using our credit simulator which is called ‘what if’.  What if I paid this card down to 30% of the limit, or what if I added myself on as an authorized user to my parents/spouse’s card, or what if I opened a new card.  Sometimes that can help increase a score immediately or we can see what happens when it 1, 2, 3 months, and so forth. Also important to know that many times – asking the creditor to close your card – can actually make your score go down.  As it takes away your history.  Better to have a card at a 0 balance with 40 months of history than have ‘not have a card’ with any history.
2. Start your search early for the perfect home. Last year, construction of new homes stalled because of COVID-19, and some sellers who would otherwise have put their homes on the market decided to wait. The result is that we are entering 2021 with lower available home inventory throughout Indiana and the country. With fewer homes on the market, your search might be more involved than you would expect. So, whenever you are planning to begin the process, think about getting an earlier start.
3. Work with a mortgage company that can help you close quickly. In a seller’s market like this one, there is a lot of competition for Indiana homes. The buyer who is able to close the fastest has an advantage over the rest. So, pick a mortgage company that is able to rapidly close. Doing so makes it more likely you will be able to buy your dream home. Also, make sure you go into the home buying process fully prepared, and that you are quick to provide additional documentation if your mortgage company requests it. In doing so, you can speed up the process.
4. Enjoy low-interest rates on a new home and a convenient home buying process. Finally, one more recommendation is to just make sure you are aware of some of the great opportunities this year presents when you are shopping for a home. Did you know that low-interest rates are likely to stick around throughout the year? By locking in a low rate in 2021, you can look forward to affordable homeownership over the years to come. Also, did you know you can take care of many aspects of the home buying process from your own home continuing into this year? Virtual tours and other solutions from last year should remain available during 2021.

Grandview Lending Can Help You Close Fast on a Home in Indiana in 2021

We know that in a seller’s market, you need to be able to move quickly and smoothly through the mortgage process. We are here to help you close fast on a home in Indianapolis or elsewhere in the state. Please give us a call now at (317) 255-0062 to take the next step in purchasing your dream home.