You’ve finally found the perfect home. It’s got the number of bedrooms you wanted, a spacious kitchen, updated bathrooms, and even a beautiful vegetable garden out back. Now comes the tricky part—how to pay for it.
Numerous home buyers find financing their mortgages through a credit union to be a good option. According to Magnify Money, approximately nine percent of mortgages are held by credit unions. These non-profit organizations essentially operate like banks, but are more laid back, less aggressive, and easy to work with. Here are some of the top benefits you’ll find when financing your mortgage through a credit union.
As a part of their philosophy, credit unions put a higher priority on customer service than they do profits. They don’t have to answer to external stockholders and put priority on profits the way traditional for-profit banks do. As a result, credit unions are equipped to offer easier loan approvals and decent mortgage rates. Even if you have a lower credit score or have saved a smaller down payment than traditionally required, you can usually find a credit union willing to work with you.
Credit unions are known to offer fewer origination fees and lower processing costs because they don’t have the same requirements banks do. For instance, credit unions don’t have to pay federal taxes and need to break every year due to their non-profit status. These savings are usually passed onto their members.
Many mortgage seekers find they enjoy working with an entity that strives to treat them as a person, not as a distant account number. Since many credit unions are smaller entities than their for-profit banking counterparts, they typically offer a “small-town” feel, even if they are a large credit union. This is because their memberships are limited to specific affiliations.
Also, a consideration you might find of value is the fact credit unions don’t typically sell out to other entities. Chances are you’ll have one lender to deal with through the lifetime of your mortgage (although not a 100% guarantee). If you borrow from a bank, chances increase for your loan to change hands many times over the years.
There are many benefits to knowing who services your loan. If a problem or other issue arises, you’ll almost always know who you can turn to and where to send your payment.
Ideally, you’ll want to be preapproved before starting your home search so you know how much you qualify for and don’t waste time looking at homes out of your price range—this is no matter what lender you ultimately decide to take out a mortgage with. But if you’re looking for low maintenance and high- quality lenders, a credit union might suit your needs.
If you’re not sure you can join one, be sure to consider all of your personal and professional affiliations, be they your college alumni, employer, HOA or church, to name a few. You can find out which ones you are eligible to join by checking your affiliations at CUlookup.com.
Buying a home should be a problem-free experience. Yet issues may arise that make it tough to acquire the perfect house at an affordable price.
Common problems that come up during the homebuying journey include:
1. Lack of Home Financing
Before you search for a home, it generally is a good idea to get pre-approved for a mortgage. That way, you can kick off a house search with a budget in hand.
To get pre-approved for a mortgage, you should meet with banks and credit unions. These financial institutions can teach you about a variety of mortgage options and help you get approved for home financing in no time at all.
Of course, if you have questions as you pursue a mortgage, don't hesitate to ask a lender for assistance. Lenders employ courteous, knowledgeable mortgage specialists who are happy to respond to your queries without delay.
2. Temptation to Submit a Lowball Offer to Purchase
Once you find your ideal residence, you may be tempted to submit an offer to purchase at or below a house seller's initial asking price. But doing so may be problematic, particularly for a homebuyer who wants to acquire his or her dream residence as quickly as possible.
If you submit a lowball offer to purchase a house, a seller likely will reject the proposal. Worst of all, a rival homebuyer may swoop in with a competitive offer to purchase this residence – something that may cause you to miss out on the opportunity to buy your ideal home.
Ultimately, it is beneficial to submit a competitive homebuying proposal. If you allocate time and resources to learn about a home's condition and how a residence stacks up against comparable houses in the same city or town, you can craft a competitive offer to purchase. And as a result, a competitive offer to purchase may receive an instant "Yes" from a home seller, leading to a fast, successful homebuying experience.
3. Failure to Identify Problems During a Home Inspection
A home inspection is paramount because it gives you the opportunity to walk through a residence with a property expert and learn about any underlying house issues. Then, if you discover major problems with a house, you can ask a seller to complete property repairs, reduce your initial offer to purchase or walk away from a residence altogether.
Hire a home inspector who possesses comprehensive expertise – you'll be glad you did. With the right house inspector at your side, you can get the help you need to identify problems during a property inspection.
Lastly, as you get ready to search for a house, you may want to hire a real estate agent as well. This housing market professional can provide extensive guidance throughout the property buying journey and ensure you can mitigate homebuying problems before they escalate.
Reach out to a real estate agent today, and you can receive plenty of support as you navigate the homebuying journey.
Household recycling has become easier than ever. Many towns and cities offer free recycling pickup, and even private waste management companies are implementing recycling programs.
There are a number of advantages to recycling. It helps protect the environment by reducing the amount of waste and making it easier to reuse raw materials. But, recycling is also advantageous to homeowners who don’t want to pay hefty fees for trash pickup when they can often recycle for free.
One of the more difficult aspects of household recycling is the learning curve of actually learning what is and isn’t recyclable. Homeowners might think something is recyclable because it’s made from plastic, only to find out later that it’s a specific type of plastic that can’t be recycled. On the other hand, you might be throwing some items in the garbage, filling up your bin each week when you could be recycling it instead.
In this article, we’re going to talk about some of the lesser known items you could be recycling. We’ll also cover some items you shouldn’t throw in your recycling bin, and give you tips on how to tell which is which.
It’s easy to assume that just because something looks like paper, plastic, or glass, that it can be tossed into your recycling bin. However, that isn’t always the case. Look out for these items that may not be recyclable in your area.
Used paper food containers. Pizza boxes are one of the biggest culprits that end up in recycling bins when they shouldn’t be. Items like paper food containers, use paper towels, and paper plates are all soiled with grease and other food residue making them ineligible for recycling.
Those glossy drink cartons made from unknown materials. There’s a good chance that if you can’t find a recycling logo on it somewhere it can’t be recycled. However, a growing number of cities are accepting milk cartons, so be sure to check on the rules in your area.
Plastic shopping bags. Those flimsy bags that you get from the supermarket? You can’t recycle those. As a result, many cities and stores are encouraging the use of reusable shopping bags. If you forget your bags at home, however, fear not: many supermarkets now accept your used plastic bags to be recirculated.
So that eliminates a lot of common household waste from being recycled. However, there are plenty of items you might not be aware of that can be tossed into the recycling bin.
Even if something isn’t eligible for curbside recycling doesn’t mean you should just toss it into the trash. There are many items that you can drop off or donate. Here are just a few items that are likely sitting in your house right now:
Old cell phones and electronics. Our gadgets are becoming obsolete at an ever-increasing rate. That means many of us have a lot of old tech junk sitting in boxes in our basements. The good news is that several stores accept free drop-offs of old electronics for reuse and recycling.
Mattresses and furniture. Large items like mattresses and old furniture are a pain to get rid of. They’re also likely useful to someone out there. For mattresses and box springs, try contacting retailers to see if they reuse them for materials. Furniture that is still in usable condition can be placed on Craigslist or donated to a thrift store like Goodwill or Salvation Army.
Oil and ink. Run out of ink in your printer? Online retailers will often pay you for your old cartridges. Also, if you recently changed your oil, drop it off at an auto parts store to be recycling into other automotive materials.
