When it comes to buying a home, there’s ONE thing you absolutely need to do before getting serious about searching for homes. In this blog post, I’m going to tell you how to get pre-qualified for a mortgage & why it’s important to realizing your real estate goals!

What Is A Pre-Qualification?

Pre-approval, pre-qualification. What’s the difference? There are technical differences between the two, but many people use them interchangeably. A pre-qualification is the first step to figuring out how large of a loan you can secure. It’s provided by truthfully answering a series of questions to a lender or mortgage broker, who will then be able to tell you what you maybe able to qualify for, and provide you a pre-qualification letter stating your buying power.

A pre-approval comes after completing a mortgage application, and more or less confirms that information you provided in the pre-qualification.

The pre-qualification will give you a strong sense of your buying power, and help you identify what kind of home you can afford.

Why It’s Important

A pre-qualification is extremely important because it can either solidify the price range you thought you could buy a home in, or completely change it. Since there are a number of different factors that go into the process, you may not realize that certain things can help or hurt your maximum loan amount.

When it comes to house-hunting, you wouldn’t want to go looking at (and falling in love with) homes that you won’t be able to obtain a mortgage for. Think of it this way: if you go see homes in person, fall in love with one property, but find out you can’t obtain a mortgage for it later down the road, the strain that will put on you mentally and emotionally can sour your future searches.

How To Get Pre-Qualified

It’s incumbent on your agent to identify the price range you’re looking in, and to answer how to get pre-qualified for a mortgage by finding you a lender or broker who can help you obtain a pre-qualification letter.

A pre-qualification is simple, easy, quick, and usually free, and can bring you peace of mind knowing that you’ll be ready to go from the lender-side when you find the dream home you’ve been looking for!

I’ve got a number of preferred lenders and brokers I use depending on your situation, so if you have any questions, reach out by using the contact form below or head on over to my contact page and let’s get connected!