Buying a home can unlock a door to a great tax return

Welcome back and happy New Year! It’s tax time and nobody looks forward to that.  I have some exciting news, though. Did you know that if you itemize your taxes you are able to deduct up to $1 million of total mortgage interest?

You can also deduct $100,000 of equity mortgage interest. Make sure to check with your accountant or give me a call if you have any questions.

Also, if you know of anyone who is thinking of buying, be sure to send them my way!

The 3 Must-Haves in Order to Buy a Home

Thanks for joining me today. One question I get asked frequently is: What does it take to buy a home? Obviously, there are a lot of important requirements before you can step into  your dream home, but I've boiled it down to the three most important must-haves for buyers.

1)  Credit. You've got to have a credit history. You start a credit history when opening a credit card, purchasing an item with a loan, or attending higher education and taking out student loans. Whether that credit score is good or not depends on whether your payments have been timely. And a good credit score is needed and you need a credit score of at least 640.

2)  Two year job history. A lender wants to know that you have a steady income and verify how much you will be making in ratio to your mortgage payments.

3)  Money. Of course I'm stating the obvious, but you may not need as much as you think. With the FHA loan, you can put down as little as 3.5%. That is $3,500 for every $100,000 that you borrow.

If you have any questions about how to qualify for a home or what your credit score may be, please give me a call today and thanks for watching!