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Off Topic : 1) When Does a software engineer start financial planning for retirement since the our Career span is only 15-20 years on average.
2) How much and which schemes to invest to mitigate the risk?
3) How much do we need for retirement? Tata Consultancy Infosys Mindtree IBM Wipro Capgemini Cognizant HCL Technologies
Anyone else has two Amex plat and why?
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Nice try Accenture.

How’s the job market?
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Gl as a aor
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Shop around and get the lowest rate
Shop around by calling all the big banks (BoA, Wells, PNC, Chase, etc) but also try your local banks and credit unions as well as they can be very competitive. I refi'd with First Internet Bank and they had excellent rates and good customer service (yes, the name sounds shady but they are legit. They have one branch in Indiana).
You need to get on the phone and have the 10-15 minute conversation with each and keep track of the information. It does take time. Don't rely on internet aggregator websites as they usually don't reflect actual values.
Check your local credit union as well
Anything I need to do different? Any place I can read up about next steps?
I'm super lost about how to proceed if I like a home. Do I say I like it and show my preapproval? Or do I get any inspection done before I express my desire?
My current rental lease expires in September. Would now be a right time to start long for homes to minimize the overlap between my mortgage payments and rent?
Sorry for the million questions :(
Start earlier than you think, OP, it takes time. Don't be afraid to close a month before your lease ends as you first month's mortgage payment is free. I'd hit the house search hard in April/May as most people move in summer and that gives you a couple of months to find something.
https://youtu.be/wm9YCmFpIWQ
OP, I bought in NC as well. Check rates at American Federal Mortgage. I worked with them 3 years ago and nobody could beat their rate at that time.
I got preapproved by chase bank. Use them for all my accounts so figured why not. Very trustworthy and got a great rate
Usually 45-60 days is what is normal to close
Try better.com.. i got my best deal there. HSBC also had good deals in florida for me. Better.com is a broker only so they will try to find good deals for you and you can customize a bit on their webpage interface
Its also OK to do a few hard hits on credit in a short period of time while you shop around to get loan quotes. Dont feel bad about pitting banks against each other. You need to have money to pay down payment but also all the closing costs. I was buying 400k property and had ~20k in closing costs
oh jeez what was your downpayment like
Check relfin.com ... not to be confused with Redfin. A great, small team that will work closely with you to ensure everything goes as smoothly and quickly as possible. Lucky, the founder, is really well known in the Berkeley Haas community.