Why Arent You Pre-Approved?
In a fast-moving market, are you wasting everyone's time by not talking to a lender first?
Homes in Central Indiana are selling at a pace not seen in at least a decade. In many cases, a home will receive an offer - maybe several offers - within a day of it hitting the BLC.*
If you want to be in position to gain the attention of a home seller, the first thing you need to do, after meeting with your real estate agent and before even thinking about touring homes for sale, is speak with a mortgage lender. This accomplishes several things:
- A lender will let you know if you are in position to buy a home at all by looking at your cash, income, debt and credit
- You will get an understanding of the lending process
- You will have an idea how much home you can afford
- You will see which loan programs may be available to you and their requirement for down payments, etc.
- If you are pre-approved for a mortgage loan, you can get a letter from the lender stating that you have been conditionally qualified to purchase a home (if you are buying a home with cash, you would similarly want to have on hand a current letter from your bank showing a proof of funds).
Now you are ready to find a home in earnest. When you have, your real estate agent will submit your offer, along with the pre-approval or proof of funds letter, to the seller. This lets the seller know that you are a serious buyer and goes miles towards them seriously considering your offer.
This is very important since you could find yourself in competition with other buyers for the same house. But even if there is no competition for the property you are interested in, any offer accompanied by a financial letter will carry more weight than an offer without.
Would you like to know more? Simply contact me to discuss your home-buying goals and I will put you in touch with a good, local lender.
*BLC is the MIBOR Realtor® Association's version of the multiple listing service.
Comments(2)