Your New Home Journey

Financing Your Home

Congratulations on your new home search!

StoryBook Homes works with a number of excellent mortgage lenders offering a variety of mortgage programs to ensure you have financing options that fit your needs, including:

- Fixed 30-year conventional loans
- Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs)
- FHA and VA loan programs

With so many factors impacting mortgage loan practices every day, it helps to have experts guiding you. As you embark on your new home journey, research mortgage lenders, such as StoryBook Homes preferred lender Toll Brothers Mortgage Company, and find out what types of loan programs you qualify for so that when you find the home you love, you're ready.

Quick Tips for Financing a New Home

Pay off as much debt as you can first.

This will help keep your debt-to-income ratio down. Lenders look at your income relative to your debt ÷ student loans, car payments, credit card debt—to determine how much you can afford to borrow. The ideal debt-to-income ratio for a new home purchase is less than or equal to 43%.

Total Monthly Debt ÷ Gross Monthly Income = Debt-to-Income Ratio

Consider consolidating or refinancing student loans.

If you can't pay off student loans before you buy a home, investigate whether you can lower your payments. You'll have to decide whether it makes sense to stretch student loan payments over more years to buy a home sooner.

Be prepared to document everything.

Tax returns, bank statements, brokerage statements, and other documents are required to verify the source of any money you plan to use. The lender will also verify your employment and income, once at the beginning of the process and again a day or two before closing. Start organizing your documents now to keep the process from hitting any snags.

- Most recent W-2s
- Most recent year-to-date pay stub
- Most recent two years' completed personal tax returns
- Most recent two months' bank statements
- Sourcing of all large deposits or gifts

Before You Purchase

For all new buyers, the following is required / requested prior to your purchase:

- Home site selection
- Mortgage preapproval from a StoryBook Homes preferred lender
- Cashier's check for required earnest money
- If cash, proof of funds (acceptable to StoryBook Homes)
- If you have a real estate agent, they should accompany you to your Purchase Agreement appointment

Allow up to an hour for your Purchase Agreement appointment and contact your Sales Consultant to verify any questions that you may have.

Exceptional Customer Experience

With a commitment to quality and service, we are here to provide our guidance and expertise to help you purchase a home you love.