What does it take to get married? Well, it starts with a formal proposal.

With life in general, two people meet. Man loves woman. Woman loves man. Man buys a diamond ring (as is the formal custom), gets down on one knee and says “will you marry me?” Then he experiences a split millisecond of gut wrenching terror while he awaits a response; hopefully a yes!

In real estate, man AND woman (though sometimes alone and not together) look for a home. At first they go it alone (newspaper, weekend open houses, maybe craigslist?). One or two weeks in they make nice with an Agent. This Agent (out of the kindness of his or her heart) puts together a list of homes for sale and saddles them up in the SUV…and off they go…house hunting!

As they go through the list and the Agent expends gallons of gas at $4.43 a gallon (how nice of him or her) it’s either “love at first sight” or “honey, let’s get out of here” until…suddenly…man and woman (though sometimes alone and not together) find the one they LOVE.

They want to put in an offer. You know, ask: “will you marry me?” Well, as is the formal custom in today’s Real Estate Market, they need to be Pre-Approved (this is the real estate "diamond ring" equivalent). A seller won’t take you seriously without one. The answer to “will you accept my offer” is a resounding (and sometimes gut wrenching) “NO.”

On the advice of their REALTOR® they accept the offer for $5,000 - $10,000 less. Why? Because they proposed with a diamond ring. They were pre-approved. Pre-approval says, “I’m qualified to buy THIS house. I have the income, credit and down payment necessary. See...look... I told you so.” This escrow will close! The seller accepts.

A pre-qualification says nothing of your credit. You haven't jumped through the underwriting hoops. Sure a lender took a gander at your DTI, quoting you a possible rate and payment (to arrive at a price point you're comfortable with). But still, no: credit report, verification of income, etc. You’re proposing empty-handed. And that’s not very confidence inspiring to Mr. Motivated Seller. Is it?

My name is Ricardo Bueno. I’m a mortgage lender based out of Los Angeles, CA. If you need to get approved for your next Real Estate purchase you can reach me at (323) 810-2175 or via email at ricardo (at) ricardobueno (dot) com