How To Buy Your First Home - (1sr Time Home Buyer Secrets)

Darren Meade

August 21, 2006

How To Buy Your First Home - (1st Time Home Buyer Secrets Revealed)

If you're about to purchase your first home, let me be the first to congratulate you! You've made a great decision.

In this article, you will discover how easy it really is to become a homeowner and finally own a piece of the 'American Dream'.

WHY HOMEOWNERSHIP IS SMARTER THAN RENTING

Income Tax Savings - As a homeowner, you can deduct your mortgage interest from your personal taxes. This can really add up. That's thousands of dollars per year - in your pocket! If you add up the tax savings, you might be surprised to find out that, after you factor in tax savings, you can own a home that has more room than your apartment - and still end up paying less than you are paying right now for rent!

Home Equity - Every time you write a check to your landlord, you might as well be flushing that money down the drain. It's gone forever. But when you own a home of your own, you will be building equity in something that belongs to you. The principal you pay each month is similar to depositing money into a savings account. After many years of paying into the home, you will have a tidy nest egg saved up that you can use for emergencies, your children's education, or retirement.

Security, Comfort, and Privacy - There is a reason people call homeownership 'The American Dream'. A home is something special that you can call you own. You can be proud to invite your friends and family over and show them 'your home'.

THE MONEY - HOW TO GET THE FINANCING YOU NEED

Timing is Everything - It has never been cheaper and easier to borrow money to buy a home than it is right now. Even if rates go up a bit, they will still be monumentally lower than they were back in the 1980s, for instance. Back then rates were as high as 20%! Nowadays, even people with bad credit regularly get rates much, much lower than this. But don't wait too long. Rates are cyclical. They will start rising again, and you will have missed your chance at homeownership.

UNCLE SAM WANTS TO HELP YOU BUY A HOME

Uncle Sam is Your Friend - The U.S. Government wants for you to own a home and they will go the extra mile to help you afford one. Why? Well, every time one home is built, the effect on the economy is quite significant. Think of all the people involved in the construction of a new home, for instance. Welders, Electricians, Carpenters, Plumbers, Framers, Roofers and others are greatly affected by your choice to purchase a home.

Little or NO Down Payment - Uncle Sam has programs like FHA and VA that can help you get into a home with a low down payment, or in some cases, with ZERO down.

FHA and VA Programs - If you read our mortgage glossary, which is available for download by visiting my website, you will discover that FHA stands for 'Federal Housing Administration' and that VA stands for 'Veteran Affairs'. Get familiar with these programs, because they just might be your ticket to the American Dream.

HOW TO DETERMINE IF YOU QUALIFY FOR AN FHA OR VA LOAN

VA Specifics - The VA Loan allows active or honorably discharged military personnel to obtain a home loan with 0% Down Payment. In addition, the seller is required to pay a large portion of your loan closing costs!

Do You Qualify for a VA Loan? - To determine if you qualify for the VA loan, you simply need to meet the following criteria. First, you must be either active in one of the Armed Forces or an honorably discharged military veteran. Second, you must have reasonable debt-to-income ratio. This means that your current bills (car loan, student loans, bank loans and credit card bills) cannot exceed 41% of your income.

FHA Specifics - If you don't qualify for a VA loan, then you should look into an FHA Loan. The FHA Loan Program allows little or no down payment, depending on your circumstances. The largest down payment you may be required to provide is 5% down. In addition, the FHA loan is also very liberal, in that, it allows a 41% debt-to-income ratio (including your mortgage payment), just like the VA Program.

Do You Qualify for an FHA loan? - If you have proof of employment, a small down payment, and a decent payment history for your other bills in the last two years, you would likely qualify for an FHA Mortgage.

What if you are Self-Employed? - If you are self-employed, that's OK too. We will simply need proof of income from your most recent tax returns. If you can provide this, and meet the regular criteria for an FHA loan as listed above, you qualify!

ABOUT YOUR CREDIT SCORE

Studies show that most Americans would rather see their dentist than have an appointment with a mortgage loan officer. The likely reason is that they are afraid of rejection - afraid of the big bad loan officer who will stamp a big red NO on their application. This is far from reality. Remember, Commissioned Mortgage Originators are in the business of saying YES. We've heard it all and seen it all and we are willing to help you, no matter what your situation is.

Credit Problems are OK - You might be confused about how a lender determines if your credit is good enough to qualify for a mortgage loan. Let's clear up that confusion right now. Basically, if you've had credit problems in the past, the mortgage company will look at those problems and ask the following questions:

a.) How far in the past are your credit problems? (i.e.- if you had multiple delinquencies on your credit card this year, you might not be able to obtain a loan)

b.) If your credit problem is in the past, is it likely to recur again?

c.) Is whatever it is that caused your credit problem gone, or is it still present today?

d.) How good is the probability that you will pay your bills faithfully every month from now on?

Judgments - If you have a judgment against you that has not been satisfied, you will not be able to obtain a mortgage loan. To obtain a mortgage loan, the mortgage company will require title insurance. Title insurance cannot be applied against your loan if you have an outstanding judgment.

FICO Score - Although lenders look at much more than just your 3 digit FICO (credit) score, you should try to keep your credit as clean as possible, because the higher the score, the better!

No Credit History - Even if you don't have any credit history whatsoever, you can qualify for a mortgage loan. As a matter of fact, it's not all that difficult. If you have a stable income, proof of employment, and a small down payment, you too can qualify for a mortgage loan!

MORTGAGE TERMS 101

As a First-Time Home Buyer, you are going to encounter a lot of new and unfamiliar terms. You should educate yourself on the meaning of these terms.

GETTING PRE-APPROVED IS THE SMARTEST MOVE YOU CAN MAKE

In many areas of the country, home sellers won't even speak with you unless they can confirm that you will qualify for the financing to purchase their home. In addition, you need to make sure you know how much you qualify for so you can avoid wasting time and effort inquiring about homes that are priced above what the lender determines you can afford. Get pre-qualified.

One year from now, you'll be looking back on this as the best decision you've ever made. Start living the American Dream today.

Darren Meade

To share with you a brief history, I was homeless as a teenager for two-and-half years where I lived in the streets begging for food and change. As you can imagine, my life was filled with a great deal of uncertainty.

By divine grace and guidance, I took shelter in the parking lot of a gym. The owner of the gym noticed me camping out there and after several weeks took me in. Pretty soon I had been adopted by the group of bodybuilders there and was given the nickname 'Pup'.

However, it was after the very painful experience of my father committing suicide six months after getting off the street that I began my personal journey into spiritual growth and began questioning how I could affect a greater number people in a more loving, profound and personal way.

Over the course of several years I went from being homeless to living in a condo on a golf course and representing the United States in international events culminating in winning the middleweight title of the IFBB Mr. North America bodybuilding competition. At the same time I co-founded a nutritional which exploded in the nutrition market and by age 27 I made my first million. Being young, I then squandered my first 3 million to turn around and build it again and again...slow learner at times!

Many of my lessons learned through out my spiritual path have been in the face of adversity. While "crisis" has often had its own way of waking me to the moment and reminding me of what is important to me now, it is not a requirement of this journey.

Just when I thought I had a handle on life, the handle broke.

I've learned another new lesson about life; including truly releasing and forgiving those whom hurt you. In April 2008 my aorta (main artery from your heart) ruptured in three (3) places.

I was given less than a 10% chance of survival and I was on life-support for 3 weeks. During this time the charge nurse spoke to a family friend and informed them they were going to amputate my leg, and that I was to young to die and they needed to transfer me to a new hospital (UCLA).

While I lived, my personal relationship ended within 10 days of my being discharged from the hospital. To be fair the doctors said I might never walk again, and that they believed I would be incontinent for the rest of my life. The Mr. North America muscular physique wasted away while I was on life support, she was leaving someone who might never to take care of themselves let alone walk; make love or be able to return to work.
However I've always been an over-achiever and very blessed.

My kidneys became healed and I went of diaylisis. My bladded after 6 months became healed and Praise God, the catheter is out. The leg they wanted to is responding and I'm learning to walk on it once again. My wheel chair has been retired and I am walking without crutches for long periods of time.

EXECUTIVE BIOGRAPHY OF DARREN M. MEADE

Darren Meade, of Kairos-Meade, has a life, which exhibits the quintessential triumphant story. He was abandoned by his parents and homeless at the age of 14, weighing less than 100 pounds and today negotiates multi-million dollar agreements.

His business career developed initially from his passion for body building. As a youth, after being homeless for two-years, he was taken in by individuals who allowed him to utilize their company gym. Darren focused that passion and successfully won several awards in competitive body building, culminating in winning the Mr. North America title for the middleweight division and represented the United States in international events. His extensive exposure in competitive body building assisted in developing relationships with industry leaders in the medical device and nutritional supplement industries.

As Darren rapidly progressed in
professional endeavors, he designed a new business model not yet used in the industry for a then unknown nutritional company. The retail experiment led by Darren worked, and within two years he drove sales from $1 million to in excess of $40 million.

Moving forward to his next success, Darren proved that he could do it again and took another company to $35 million in a single year. He diligently oversaw all facets of assisting an international research organization´s quest to gain acceptance in the U.S. biotechnology sector by partnering with one of the world´s largest biotechnology companies within only five-months. This was accomplished after the organization had tried for years and used over 50 consultants and development personnel without results.

A key to Darren´s success is his passion for each new business he enters. He specializes in building profitable long-term relationships with clients, vendors and staff.

He has proven that success is contagious.

In addition to his business accomplishments, Darren has actively participated through service of time and finances to homeless shelters and civic community organizations. He is a Deputy CEO of the Invisible Youth Foundation. Darren recently volunteered on Arnold Schwarzenegger´s successful run for Governor. Due to his efforts, he was offered a position in Sacramento.

He was selected by the Orange County Register to write columns regarding the process of the campaign through to the inauguration and planning for policies.

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