Welcome to the Sanford REI Financing and Closing Costs Page!

Financing:  Financing is vital unless you are a Cash buyer.  You will need a Pre-Qualification letter from a bank or mortgage broker to submit a real estate offer in almost every state in the U.S. unless you are a Cash Buyer. If you are a Cash Buyer, you will need a “Proof of Funds” statement dated within the last 30 days from your bank when submitting your offer. You may block out Social Security numbers, first part of your account number and sometimes other transactions located on your Proof of Funds Statement. Most real estate agents or brokers need to see your name, the bank’s name, the date on the statement and the amount clearly in the account. If you need to use multiple banks to show the amount you need to support your cash offer, then you will need to submit the POF Statement from each bank.

Down Payment and Closing Costs:  Down Payments and Closing Costs are another area that are usually misunderstood.  Most people believe they need 20-30% to put down on a house. WRONG! Many times, you will need as little as 3 to 3 ½% to put down and of that, only as little as $1000 for your initial deposit! Heck, there may be VA programs out there where you may be able to get 100% Financing! Just remember, that if you are using a VA Loan, you must get a VA Certification Letter to submit with your offer and these things can take some time to get so get on that right away! If you have fair or not so good credit, no problem! I HIGHLY advise that you get yourself a mortgage broker who deals with multiple banks/lenders versus 1 bank rep or loan officer at 1 bank who will only have 1 FICO Score and only 1 set of requirements you will have to conquer!  With a Mortgage Broker, you will have multiple banks and lenders at your Mortgage Broker’s disposal and so you will have a better chance to get pre-qualified, have a better chance at a lower interest rate and will have a better chance if you have issues with your front end or back end “ratios”. SO GET YOURSELF A QUALITY MORTGAGE BROKER!

Many people have heard of the FHA 1st Time Home Buyer’s Program however, they also believe that once you use your “1st Time Homebuyer” option, that’s it! WRONG! Did you know in most states, you can still qualify to use your 1st Time Homebuyer option AGAIN as long as you haven’t owned any property for 3 years!!! You may be renting and thinking “Geeze, I can’t afford to buy a house or condo right now”. Maybe not! However, maybe you CAN afford to buy and don’t even know it!

What about Closing Costs? Many of you probably think – “Boy oh boy, I am also going to need $1,000s to close! WRONG! Did you know that virtually every property I represented a buyer on, I made the seller pay for most, if not all of the closing costs through a “Seller Concession” at closing! The few exceptions were Short Sales. Short Sales are extremely difficult to get the bank to pay for closing costs since they are already losing $1,000s if not 10s of $1,000s of dollars. Flipped properties, properties that another investor bought, fixed it up really nice and now wants to resell it, can also be very difficult to get them to pay closing costs but it is possible. So let me help you save more money at closing!

As with Legal Counsel or any other area of real estate, you always have the right to choose your own mortgage broker or legal counsel to represent you.

Please complete the Contact Form to the right if you would like to discuss closing costs, down payments and financing in more detail!

We look forward to working with you!
John Sanford – Managing Member and Real Estate Broker
Sanford Real Estate & Investment, LLC.
222 Main Street, Unit 223
Farmington, CT 06032