Are You Pre-Qualified or Pre-Approved for a Mortgage?

It's important that you understand the distinction between being pre-qualified for a loan and being pre-approved. The difference between the two terms will be crucial when you decide to make an offer on a house. A pre-approval will put you in a better and stronger position as a buyer than a pre-qualification. Before you begin to shop for a new home, you should set up a time for me to meet with you to help you determine how much home you can afford to buy.

How to Get Pre-Qualified for a Mortgage

You will need to provide information about your income, debt, and assets. Then, together we’ll assess your goals for the down payment, your monthly budget, and go over the different loan programs that will best work for you. Once done, you will get a pre-qualification (pre-qual) letter that will tell you how much you money can borrow and how much house you can buy.

It's important that you understand that a pre-qualification letter is just an estimate of what you are eligible to borrow based on the information provided. It's not a commitment to lend.

How to Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage

By getting pre-approved for a mortgage, you will have the competitive advantage over other buyers when the time comes to make an offer on a home. To begin the process, you need to complete a mortgage application and provide some information verifying your employment, your financial status, and your assets. Then, we'll review your credit history. After we have all the information, we'll discuss your mortgage options, then submit your application to a mortgage underwriter to help determine the loan programs that will best meet your needs. Once the application process is complete, you will receive a pre-approval letter showing how much house you can afford to buy.

A pre-approval letter will be subject to an appraisal of the home you wish to purchase and certain other conditions. If your financial situation changes (e.g. you lose your job) while you're shopping for a home, or interest rates rise or a specified expiration date passes, then we will need to review your situation again and recalculate your mortgage amount accordingly.