Initial Follow up Call and you speak with them.
Hi my name is (agent name) with Florida Down Payment Assistance.com. I received an application from you yesterday regarding down payment assistance. I just wanted to reach out to you to see if there’s anything that I can do to help you get some down payment assistance money for a new home.
What part of Florida do you want to live in?
Let them speak because they may want to say something at this point.
All of the down payment assistance programs are based on Credit and Income.
Your middle credit score must be at least 640 and that’s true of anyone else that’s on the loan. Have you had your credit pulled recently?
Let them tell you their story. That will tell you if they already have a Loan Officer and Realtor already. If their credit is below 600 and they need to build credit, you can send them the “Credit Signature” and pink slip them in the database.
If they already have a Realtor explain;
“We won’t be able to help you because Realtors don’t like us speaking to their Clients. “I’ll probably contradict what your Realtor says because we are experts at down payment assistance and very few Realtors are”.I don’t want to take any more calls from mad Brokers complaining that I’m speaking with one of their Clients.
(You don’t want to tell them anymore valuable information, because next year when they haven’t bought a house, they will have forgotten about this Realtor and they’ll know you can help them. It really works that way. Remember that whatever you tell them means they need you that much less if they already have a Realtor.
If they already have a Loan Officer, tell them that the two mortgage Loans cannot be split between two different Lenders. Whoever writes the first mortgage, writes the second mortgage and that’s the guideline.
The next part of the equation is your income. If you don’t make enough money, then the house you qualify to purchase might not pass the Appraisal process. If you make too much money, then you don’t qualify for the program.
How much money did you make last year?
Is anyone else in the household over 18 making any money or filing tax returns?
It’s important to find out how much each person makes, because if they only qualify for an FHA Loan, all the programs will take into account ALL income in the household. If their credit and employment history is good enough, they may qualify for the Conventional version of the DPA. This ONLY takes into account the Borrowers Income, NOT the entire household income.
If the primary Borrower’s income exceeds the maximum income limit of the program, then your only hope for DPA is to use the other person if they can qualify for the Conventional version of the DPA. Their credit score is over 680 and their Debt to Income Ratio is below 44.9%. Be looking at the website and either print out the income limits for your counties or have it already up on the screen so you don’t have to say “wait a minute let me look”
Now we need to determine how much money a month you can budget for a house payment. The maximum debt-to-incomeis 44.9%. I have to ask you some financial questions but I don’t pull your credit.
The first question is do you work for yourself or someone else?
How much money did you make last year? (Divide this by 12 months and then multiply by 44.9% That’s the money they have left to be below max DTI. Take this money and subtract their monthly debts that would be on the credit report. Get financial calculator and determine what the mortgage payment would be and be sure to include taxes, Homeowners insurance and Mortgage Insurance. )
Do you still have the same job?
How long have you had the job?
Are you paid on commission or bonus? (Must have same Overtime /Bonus/Commission) job with same company for over two years to include Overtime/Bonus/Commission as income, otherwise you can only use base pay for qualification purposes.
How long have you been getting bonus or commission?
You should have all the data now to determine what the max house payment they can afford. Whatever amount is left, calculate PITI + MI. Estimate Property Tax at $200/mo and Home Owners Insurance at $100 per month.
It looks like you can afford a house payment of $$$$.
Are you ready to start looking at properties? (If answer is yes, send them appropriate lender signature and set them up to receive listings via MLS in area and price range for now. You may have to adjust the price when lender tells you something different for maximum mortgage payment.)