4 Steps to Home Buying

Home Blog 4 Steps to Home Buying

Posted On: May 19, 2021 by Peoples Bank of Kankakee County in: Budget Mortgages Personal Finances Saving

Whether you’ve been looking for a while or have just decided to begin the hunt, buying a home is an exciting adventure! But do you know some of the things you should be doing before stumbling upon your dream home? We’re here to explain our top four steps to home buying so you can enjoy the journey.

Know How Much You Can Afford

Even though you could get a loan for $300,000, this may not mean you want to spend that much on a home. Go through your current debts, what equity you’d get back on your home, your salaries, monthly bills and expenses to know how much money you spend each month. Then calculate what your new mortgage would potentially be (including taxes, insurance and utilities as those may change) to know how much you are comfortable spending each month while allowing room for savings. This will help give you a final number you are truly comfortable spending, so you don’t go over your max when making an offer.

Get Pre-Approved

You may begin your search and think you’re in no rush – but what if you come across the perfect home and there’s already offers that could potentially be coming in? You want to make sure everything is lined up so you can put an offer in right away to get ahead of others. Waiting a whole day to meet with your bank and go over finances could cost you that slot that would get you to owning your dream home. You need to know how much you can actually afford, if you need the sale to be contingent on your home selling and so on. We can help you manage all of this and get you pre-approved for a mortgage.

Don’t Just Look on Home Sites

Don’t just wait to see a home on a website like Realtor.com or Zillow. You want to check Facebook and follow realtors there as they may post a home before it becomes live on the site. You can also ask around if anyone is thinking about selling so you can get your foot in the door first before it goes on the market. The same goes for your realtor – if you want to use a realtor, choose one and make sure they are looking for you to alert you to a home that fits your criteria before it may go on market.

Get a Home Inspection & Appraisal

After putting in your offer and getting it accepted, be sure to have an inspection. You’ll want to know everything is running smoothly before you make this big financial decision. You will also need the home to be appraised. A home appraisal is a review that gives the current value of the property you want to buy. You must get an appraisal before you buy a home with a mortgage loan. Lenders require appraisals because they can’t lend out more money than a home is worth.

Even though this seems like a lot, it will leave you confident in your decision to buy a home. When you have everything above worked out, all you need to focus on is finding a home that fits your needs instead of wondering if you can even afford it. Keep in mind our team can help you with any of the above - we are Kankakee County’s #1 mortgage lender**.

**Based on Standard Title Guaranty Company data for mortgages recorded in Kankakee County January – December 2020.

An overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway. We can cover your overdrafts in two different ways:

We have standard overdraft practices that are available after your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing.
We also offer an overdraft protection plan, Overdraft Protection Sweep, a link to a savings account. It may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices. To learn more, ask us about this plan.

This notice explains our standard overdraft practices.

What are the standard overdraft practices that come with my account?

After your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing, we do authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions:

Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number
Automatic bill payments

We do not authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to (see below):

ATM transactions
Everyday debit card transactions

We pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction.

If we do not authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined.

What fees will I be charged if Peoples Bank of Kankakee County pays my overdraft?

Under our standard overdraft practices:

We will charge you a fee of up to $30 each time we pay an overdraft.
The maximum daily overdraft fee per presentment or item paid using the Overdraft Reserve Program is $150.00 per day.
No per item handling fee will be charged on de minimis overdrafts. De minimis overdraft for this policy means transactions that overdraw your account by $30 or less.
There is an overdraft fee of $5 per day that will be charged beginning the 4th consecutive business day your account is overdrawn.

Nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees - if an item drafted by you (such as a check) or a transaction you set up (such as a preauthorized transfer) is presented for payment in an amount that is more than the amount of money in your account and we decide not to pay the item or transaction, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee for returning the payment. Be aware that such an item or payment may be presented multiple times by the merchant or other payee until it is paid, and that we do not monitor or control the number of times a transaction is presented for payment. You agree that we may charge you an NSF fee each time a payment is presented if the amount of money in your account is not sufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented.

PAYMENT ORDER OF ITEMS - The law permits us to pay items drawn on your account in any order (for purposes of this section "items" means checks, orders and electronic transactions). To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process those items. When processing checks and orders drawn on your account our policy is to pay lower numbered checks and orders in numerical sequence, but electronic transactions are paid first in the order received. The order in which items are paid is important if there is not enough money in your account to pay all of the items that are presented. There is no policy that is favorable in every instance. If the smallest items are paid first, you may have fewer NSF or overdraft fees, but the largest, and perhaps more important items (such as rent or mortgage payments) might not be paid. However, if the largest items are paid first, your most important items might be paid but it may increase the overdraft or NSF fees if funds are not available to pay all of the items. We think our policy attains a reasonable balance between minimizing additional costs to you and paying your more important items. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid creating items without sufficient funds and incurring the resulting fees.

What if I want Peoples Bank of Kankakee County to authorize and pay overdrafts on my ATM and everyday debit card transactions?

If you also want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and everyday debit card transactions after your account has been open for 30 days, you may opt in.

You have an ongoing right to change this consent at any time. If your overdraft privilege has been revoked for any reason, the opt-in or opt-out selection may not apply. Please contact your nearest office for more information.

Alternate ways to Opt In/Out or make changes:

By Phone. Our Customer Care Representatives can be reached at 815-936-7600.
By Mail. Peoples Bank of Kankakee County, 333 E. Court Street, Kankakee, IL 60901
In Person. Please visit your local office and ask a representative to help you decide which plan is best for you.