The Importance of Getting Pre-approved for a Mortgage

Purchasing a home can be stressful. One of the most important steps you can take to ensure the process will go as smooth as possible is to get pre-approved before you start shopping for your new home.

Benefits

One of the biggest benefits of getting pre-approved is that it will give you an accurate measurement of qualification and how expensive of a house you can afford. You need to ensure that you can comfortably afford not only your mortgage payments but also the other costs of owning a home such as property taxes, condo fees (if applicable), utility bills, and home insurance.

If there are issues with your application, it is better to discover them at the pre-approval stage so we can work on fixing those issues prior to your search for a home. If you are not able to qualify at this time, we can assist you in taking the necessary steps to qualify for a mortgage in the future. Getting pre-approved will ensure you are looking at the entire picture so that there are no surprises once you are ready to apply for a new mortgage

90-120 Days

Another benefit of getting pre-approved is that interest rates are protected for 90-120 days (depending on the lender) which protects you from potential rate increases during that window. If interest rates have increased during your pre-approval window, we can go back to the lenders that have pre-approved you to make sure you are getting the best rate within your rate hold period.

Best of all, getting pre-approved is free and there is no obligation to use the lender that has pre-approved you. Some lenders will give you a written confirmation or a certificate as proof of your pre-approval. It’s important to note that when you’ve been pre-approved, the only thing that’s being guaranteed is the interest rate. The process vets you as a borrower, but it is not a guarantee that you will get a mortgage, or the amount that you will be loaned but is an important first step in buying your new home.