We currently live in separate houses and have just started the home buying process together. We found a real estate agent a little while ago and she referred us to a mortgage broker. Last week we met with the broker to start the pre-approval process. David and I had an idea of our home buying budget and I admit I was a little discouraged by it because most of the listings we saw online for that price weren't very nice. Once the broker collected all our information (where we work; how much we make; where we worked in the past; how much we have in savings; how much we have for a down payment; credit checks etc.) he gave us a dollar amount that surprised us both! He said we could qualify for double what we had thought!!
He advised us not to go that high so the three of us agreed on a lower price point.
I got a call from the broker on Friday saying that we are pre-approved at the lower, but still healthy, budget with. He actually said "I got you guys approved for $***,*** with a $**,*** down payment". We have been saving for a down payment for about a year and are quite proud of ourselves:)
Initially, we thought maybe our parents would have to co-sign for us (they volunteered if needed) because we probably wouldn't even qualify. But we did it all on our own! Some of the down payment money we saved has been gifted to us over the past several months (birthday, Christmas, congrats on the engagement, etc.) but we chose to save it together instead of spending it elsewhere.
and now for wedding talk...
I really enjoy planning our wedding. It's a lot of fun and hasn't been stressful at all...it helps that David is involved! Now that we are almost done with wedding things, we can really focus on looking for our house.
David and I have been engaged for nearly a full year and I still can't believe we are getting married. Obviously, the giant rock on my finger is a reminder:) It really hit me last week that this is really happening...we are getting married and starting a life together.
even though I'm supposed to be blogging about wedding stuff, I'll throw in the occasional "update about home buying" post. :D
-christina
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