GET PRE-APPROVED BEFORE SEARCHING FOR YOUR NEXT HOME...

When looking to purchase a home, Sellers will most likely not review or consider your offer without a pre-approval letter from your lender. Also, as a buyer, you do not want to even begin to look at homes before you know if and what amount you are qualified for. Reason is, buyers will find their dream home but will later be disappointed realizing they do not qualify for the asking price of the home or qualify for a home loan at all due their credit rating. It's also a waste of a buyers time to spend countless hours of looking for a home without even knowing whether or not they approved for a home loan. So before you waste your own time and disappoint yourself, get pre-approved first...Now, don't get this confused with pre-qualified which is something you can do yourself. Pre-qualify is simply taking a general look at your income and expenses and plugging them into a debt-to-ratio formula. Pre-Approval on the other hand is when a mortgage lender reviews both your credit report/score and income to determined if and what loan you qualify for. If pre-approved, the lender will tell you which loan programs you qualify for and what amount. They will also discuss the interest rates they offer for your loan type. (loan types to be describe in a later blog). Once you're pre-approved you can then go shopping for a home with confidence about your buying power. (note, this still isn't a guarantee that the lender will approve the loan, since the home must also meet certain requirements as well as your credit should not have any major changes from the day you are pre-approved to the day you close on your home, so don't plan on major purchases or fall behind on current debts during your home search process). The pre-approval process can be done in a day, but you must be able to provide some financial information such as you recent pay stubs, banks statements and credit report which the lender usually pulls for you. So get pre-approved and call me so we can start looking for your next home! If you need help in locating a lender, email me and I will send you a list of established lenders to help you get started.