Mortgage Pre-Approval

The Mortgage Pre-approval is one of the most important steps in purchasing a home.  You start here on Zillow getting loan quotes but a loan quote is only good if you can get approved for that loan.

Getting the loan approval upfront will save everyone alot of headache at the end.  You don’t go shopping for a home first and then find out you don’t qualify for that property.

Step 1

Find a good lender that you trust and get approved.  That means either discussing with them over the phone or in person your situation.  You must have a credit check done, provide income and asset documents and any other required forms for you to be pre-approved.

If you go by credit check alone and do not provide all documents you are only increasing your chances that things will not go as smoothly as you liked.  It really doesn’t take long to get pre-approved for a mortgage.

Step 2

Once you figure out your budget and how much you can be approved for then you can do some shopping!  You will have more leverage once you know exactly how much you can afford.

It is still a great time to purchase a home - especially if you are a first time homebuyer you have until November 30, 2009 to qualify for the 8000 tax credit.