Buying and selling homes safely during the pandemic
If sheltering in place has delayed your plans to move to a different state or city, all is not lost! You still have time to buy a suitable home for your family and in a good school district in time for your family to get settled before school returns.
Getting pre-qualified before you start house hunting with a national mortgage lender like Stearns Home Loans, will give you a realistic homebuying budget. Get a head start by having a preliminary discussion with your loan officer about which loan options best meet your needs. Then, when you've found a home to purchase and submit your full loan application, you'll be one step ahead of buyers who did not get pre-qualified.
Great Schools is a national nonprofit dedicated to assisting families with their education options. Here, you can view thousands of schools' ratings for Academic Progress, Test Scores, College Readiness, Student Demographics, Attendance Records, and even COVID-19 response. If you won't settle for anything less than a school with a perfect score, click on a state to see which schools scored 10 out of 10.
If you've already prepared a shortlist of preferred districts and neighborhoods, Zillow's Zendesk enables you to view school data for each area. You'll need to download the Zillow app to use this search.
Contact us today to speak with a loan officer to get your home buying process started!
Moving to a hot market
If you are moving to another state, maximize your house hunting time by connecting with a local real estate agent in your new city. They'll know the neighborhoods and be able to match your housing needs to areas with suitable schools. As a national mortgage lender, we network with real estate professionals in all states (except New York), let us know if you need to be connected.Getting pre-qualified before you start house hunting with a national mortgage lender like Stearns Home Loans, will give you a realistic homebuying budget. Get a head start by having a preliminary discussion with your loan officer about which loan options best meet your needs. Then, when you've found a home to purchase and submit your full loan application, you'll be one step ahead of buyers who did not get pre-qualified.
Finding the ideal school district quickly
If you're still searching for a new school, here are two sites that can help you quickly narrow down your shortlist of preferred districts.Great Schools is a national nonprofit dedicated to assisting families with their education options. Here, you can view thousands of schools' ratings for Academic Progress, Test Scores, College Readiness, Student Demographics, Attendance Records, and even COVID-19 response. If you won't settle for anything less than a school with a perfect score, click on a state to see which schools scored 10 out of 10.
If you've already prepared a shortlist of preferred districts and neighborhoods, Zillow's Zendesk enables you to view school data for each area. You'll need to download the Zillow app to use this search.
Financing the move to your chosen district
Notify your loan officer as soon as you've found a home. Stearns processes loans in-house, and funds 80% of home loans in less than 28 days from application, which means that you'll have a team of dedicated Stearns employees working to fast-track your move, even if you're moving to another state.Contact us today to speak with a loan officer to get your home buying process started!