Buying a home is probably the biggest purchase you will ever make. Having a bankruptcy on your credit report adds an extra challenge.

If you’ve read my book After Bankruptcy Credit Solutions, then know that many people who have had a bankruptcy apply for credit and loans the wrong way.

Mistakes in this arena can cost you $10,000s in extra interest and other finance charges. Let’s look at an example:

You finally find the home you’ve been looking and the seller’s asking price is reasonable. So you apply for a $250,000 thirty year loan to purchase the home.

You fill out a mountain of paperwork… sign here, initial here, sign here, etc. Then not to long after that the lender call you with great news – you’ve been approved!

But don’t pop the cork on the champagne bottle just yet. Sure, you were approved but at what cost?

You were able to get a $250,000 thirty year loan at 8%. That means that over the life of the loan you’ll pay $410,388.12 in interest.

What if you had been able to take specific steps to increase your credit score and shop loans – and, as a result, reduced interest rate by 1%. In that case you would end up paying $348,772.12 in interest.

The 1% difference comes out to $61,615.87! If you were able to achieve that by taking some very specific steps that would have been EXTRA money in your pocket!

What’s the point of this example? You simply can’t afford to get it wrong when it comes to buying a home.

Let’s look at the RIGHT way:

First, if there was ever a time where it’s critical that you’ve increased your credit score before shopping for a loan this is probably going to be it.

So you want to increase your credit score. By the way, if you’re trying to qualify for a loan and time is of the essence there’s a way to increase your score in as little as 72 hours!

Next, you want to have mortgage broker on your team. If you’ve had a bankruptcy they can be invaluable. But you don’t want just any mortgage broker.

You need to interview a few and ask them some very specific questions. It’s really important that you have the RIGHT mortgage broker in your corner.

A good mortgage broker will have access to several lenders and know which one is appropriate for your situation. They will also be able to walk you through the entire loan approval process.

Only after you have lined up financing should you begin to look for a home. Of course, you’ll want to interview a number of real estate agents.

But what if you can’t get approved for a conventional loan? Don’t worry! There are a number of strategies you can use to purchase if you can’t qualify for a traditional mortgage.

In fact with one of the strategies it doesn’t matter if you have terrible credit or even if you are unemployed… you can still qualify!

If time happens to be on your side, and you don’t need to refinance your mortgage immediately, take some time to educate yourself about the mortgage industry.

By educating yourself about the mortgage industry, you are essentially putting yourself into the driver’s seat.

There is so much mortgage jargon, terms, and definitions that will be thrown at you when considering a mortgage refinance, that it is impossible for any one person to understand everything.

It is not necessary to become an expert in the mortgage industry. You just need to have somewhat of an understanding. This way, while you are shopping around for a mortgage refinance, your decision on which lender you want to work with, will be all the more educated.

The mortgage industry is a very competitive one, so by shopping around, and making it clear that you are shopping around to the lenders or brokers you are dealing with, they will be forced to come back at you with the best deal possible. They know that they are competing with other mortgage companies, and they will not want anyone else to get your business, so they will offer you the best rate available to them in order to keep your business.

Keep in mind when a loan officer or broker offers you a deal that sounds too good to be true, it just may be, so be careful. You don’t want to get to the closing table only to find out you are not getting what you thought you were getting.

Remember, before you commit to a lender, ask for everything they told you to be sent to you in writing, this way you won’t have any surprises at the table.

This is why it is so important to educate yourself about the mortgage industry.

With just a fair amount of knowledge, you will have a general understanding of what you are being offered, and you will be able to determine whether or not the deal is reasonable.

My suggestion to you would be to allow for up to four loan officers or brokers to assess your situation. Whichever one comes back with the best, and most reasonable deal, should be the one for you to consider.